LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



PRESENTED BY 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



t 



? 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



Schools in Paterson, 



NEW JERSEY; 



with 



Notices of Some Schools in the Vicinity. 



BY WM. NELSON, 

A member of the Paterson Board of Education, 
April, 1868, to April, 1871. 



Published By Obdebof the Boabd. 

18 7 7. 



PATERSON. N. J. { 
Chiswell & Wubts, Pbentebs. 

1S77. 



&^w %>&„ J--eJ^^, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



Schools in Paterson, 



NEW JERSEY; 



with 



Notices of Some Schools in the Vicinity. 



BY WM. NELSON, 

A member of the Paterson Board of Education, 
April, 1868, to April, 1871. 



Published By Order of the Board. 

18 7 7. 

ft ' 



Among the novel features of the very interesting Educational Exhibit 
made by New Jersey at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1870, 
was the series of hisiories of schools in the several cities and counties in 
the State. That of the Paterson schools was prepared at the request of 
City Superintendent Rogers, and was rather hurriedly written, April 25 — 
May 1st, 1876. The aim was to show the development of the educational 
system from the simple village school teaching the merest rudiments, to the 
highly-complex series of graded schools, from the lowest to the highest, 
with a complex system of management, that prevails in large cities. As 
this evolution from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is the outgrowth 
of a public sentiment, which is developed by changes in circumstances, 
many details were introduced which, though trifling in themselves, are 
more or less significant as showing the progress of education in a growing 
community The truth embodied in the maxim, " The child is father of 
the man," applies to most things in this world. Hence the importance of 
studying the beginnings of movements affecting so iety. The history uf 
educational progress in Paterson is in outline the history of the common 
school system everywhere in America. Mons. E. Boisson, the distinguished 
Commissioner of the French Government to the Educational Exhibit at 
the Vienna Exposition in 1873, and President of the French Educational 
Commission to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, doubt- 
less took this view of this Historical Sketch, when he was kind enough to 
say that he "regarded it as a model work of the sort," which he desired to 
incorporate in his report to the French Government. 

The Board of Education having unanimously resolved to have the 
Sketch printed, the manuscript has been revised during the present month, 
and the work is now submitted to the public, as a slight contribution, of at 
least local interest, to the vast body of Centennial Literature. 

Wm. Nelson. 
Paterson, N. J., March, 1877. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



-OF— 



Schools in Paterson 



Introductory. 



"1742, den 1 Maij. Met Attestatie getrouwt Van Den Erw. Dom : 
Vaughan van Eliza b Thown 
James Billington Schoolmaster &c. 
with Anna America &c." 

The writer hereof was struck some years ago with the 
above entry in the Acquackanonk Church Records,* the first 
two lines being in the unmistakable chirography of Dominie 
Van Driessen, then pastor of that church, 1 735-1 748 ; the 
third line undoubtedly the autograph of the " Schoolmaster 
&c," while the last was apparently in the yet unformed hand- 
writing of the bride, whose marriage to the Schoolmaster (on 
certificate- — -of proclamation of the banns — by the Rev. Edward 
Vaughan, Episcopal clergyman at Elizabethtown, 1 709-1 747) 
is thus set forth. The bride's unusual surname might not un- 
naturally suggest the fancy that this record was a figurative 
mode of conveying the idea that on or about the above date this 
or any (Anna) part of America first became united to the 
Schoolmaster. 

Popular Education in New Netherland. 

However, as Passaic county was originally settled by the 
Dutch, we may get light on this subject by inquiring what was 
done in " New Netherland" for the advancement of learning 

*In MS., Vol. I., p. 489. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



by the early Dutch proprietors. The charter of the West In- 
dia Company, in 1629, enjoined upon the Patroons and colo- 
nists the support of a minister and schoolmaster, in pursuance 
of which policy Adam Roelandsen arrived four years later, 
being the first schoolmaster in the colony.* In the Company's 
new charter (1640) the support and maintenance of school- 
masters was again pledged, but funds subscribed for the erec- 
tion of a schoolhouse in New Amsterdam (now New York 
City) were misappropriated, " and this laudable undertaking 
failed in consequence."! The people insisted that better pro- 
vision should be made for education, modestly urging that 
" there should be a public school, provided with at least two 
" good masters," and in 1647 Peter Stuyvesant promised that 
the West India Company " would defray a part of the expen- 
" ses of education, and would continue their assistance to pro- 
" mote the glorious work," J and writing to the Classis of Am- 
sterdam in 1649 " to send out a pious, well-qualified and dili- 
; ' gent schoolmaster," forcibly remarked : " Nothing is of greater 
" importance than the right early instruction of youth. "§ The 
next year the Classis sent to New Amsterdam a person to be 
Zicken-trooster (consoler of the sick) and schoolmaster, and the 
local authorities employed Jan Cornelissen to keep the common 
school. || . In 1652, the Rev. Gideon Schaets was engaged to 
come from Holland to Rensselaerswyck, one of the conditions 
of his engagement being that he should " pay attention to the 
" office of schoolmaster for old and young. "\ 

The foregoing facts show that the Dutch progenitors of the 
oldest Passaic county families appreciated the importance of a 
common school system, and that the office of teacher was not 

*0 , Callaghan's Hist. N. Netherland, I., 119, 143. 
tlbid, 396. 

^Remonstrance of New Netherland, p. 48; Brodliead's History of N. Y., I., 516 
4T6. 

SBrodhead, I., SOS. 
Illbid, 516. 
110'Callaghan, II, 56T. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 



inappropriately vested in the local clergyman or his substitute, 
the Zieken-trooster. 

First Schoolmaster in Passaic County. 

In the absence of an ordained preacher, the congregations 
of Acquackanonk and Hackensack were ministered unto spir- 
itually by Guiliaem Bertholf, a Zieken-trooster, who in 1694 
was sent to Holland by these churches to be ordained, and 
served them as pastor for thirty years thereafter. 

In a Dutch manuscript in Bertholf s handwriting, in the 
writer's possession, dated April 10, 1693, he describes himself 
as " Schoohneester en ordinere schrijver ten dtirfte Acquig- 
" genonck Residerende" ("Schoolmaster and authorized 
" scrivener, living at the village of Acquackanonk "), showing 
that he joined to his office of Zieken-trooster that of 
school-teacher as well. It is creditable to the first settlers of 
our county that they thus early maintained a schoolmaster 
among them ; beyond doubt, Guiliaem Bertholf deserves the 
distinction of being the first in the county. 

First Legislation. 

It was not till the ensuing October or November that the 
Legislature of East Jersey passed the first law relating to pub- 
lic education in this State, providing for the annual election in 
each township of three men " with authority to employ a 
" School Master and levy a school rate upon the inhabitants of 
" the town." The preamble to the act very properly sets forth 
that " the cultivating of learning and good manners tends great- 
" ly to the good and benefit of Mankind," and confesses that 
the same " hath hitherto been much neglected within this 
" Province." * 

* Learning & Spicer, 328 ; Record of Governor and Council, 167. 

Early Schools in Passaic County. 
The marriage record given above is the next positive no- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



tice we have of a successor to Dominie Bertholf at the school- 
master's desk, and it is the only mention we find anywhere of 
the spouse of Anna America. 

But the tolerably frequent references to school-houses in 
sundry records show that every considerable hamlet or village 
in the county was prompt to provide facilities for the educa- 
tion of the young. 

The oldest reference of this kind we have found is in the 
return in 1768 of a road at Pompton, " beginning at the fence 
"of Abraham Bertholf, Near the schoolhouse." * 

Again, in 1 775' a roa d was laid at Singack, to start from 
" a certain Tract of Land which was purchased for the use of a 
" school or schoolhouse." f There is reason for believing that 
this tract has been ever since devoted to this honorable pur- 
pose, and that it is to-day occupied by the modest but neat lit- 
tle schoolhouse wherein assemble the children of Mountain 
View (Mead's Basin) to receive their daily quantum of 
learning. 

Another like reference is in a road return dated 1794, which 
speaks of " a log schoolhouse," apparently in the neighbor- 
hood of Centreville, Acquackanonk township. In 1802 it is 
alluded to as " the Log Schoolhouse so called," from which 
we may infer that the primitive building had been removed, 
but the new structure retained the old distinctive appellation. \ 

As remarked above, there is no doubt that schoolhouses 
were established in each settlement in the county as soon as 
the hamlets grew up, but the records of them are exceedingly 
scanty, and even tradition has scarcely occupied itself with per- 
petuating recollections of the earliest attempts at popular edu- 
cation. 

* Bergen County Road Records, Book B, f. 3T. 

t Ibid, f . 74. 

X Essex County Road Records, A, 36.% 4G9, 4T2, 



OF 30S00LS IN PATERSON. 



The First School tn Paterson — One of the 
Olden Time. 

Doubtless the first schoolhouse erected within the present 
limits of the City of Paterson was at the corner of Market 
street and the Wesel road, in the southeast corner of the pres- 
ent city bounds. The " Wesel neighborhood " having been 
settled about a century and a half ago, it is believed a plot of an 
acre or two was at once set apart in the above location for a 
schoolhouse. At the close of the last century the site was oc- 
cupied by a building about forty feet long, running from east 
to west, and twenty or twenty-five feet wide ; the walls perhaps 
eight feet high, of stone laid up in clay mortar, supporting a 
shingle roof. The house was thus large, because designed for 
a double purpose — for a school, and for the dwelling of the 
teacher and his family. Do you wonder where were his dining- 
room, sitting-room, parlor and bed-room ? They were all 
comprised in a space of twenty feet square. Perhaps he divid- 
ed that into two rooms ; for three-quarters of a century ago the 
Jersey Dutch in the rural districts were scarcely as fastidious 
as we are now, and the almost universal practice of " bundling " 
a whole family into one room, if not into one bed, was a won- 
derful economy of space, whatever may be said of it in other 
respects. Under the teacher's quarters was a cellar ; under the 
other half of the building, none. A vast fire-place at each end 
of the house was all the heating and ventilating " apparatus " 
provided for many years. They answered the purpose of ventil- 
ation admirably, but for heating were not particularly success 
ful, although consuming vast quantities of cordwood provided 
from time to time by the parents. By the year 1820, the clay 
mortar had fallen out from between the stones, and the walls 
were so full of air-holes that the old schoolhouse was familiar- 
ly termed " the Bellows." When the wind was from the north- 



10 , HISTORICAL SKETCH 

west, you might pile cords of wood on the fire, and the tre- 
mendous draft would almost carry the entire building out 
through the chimney ! About 1825 the Trustees put in a box 
stove, which was more comfortable, and afforded the boys in- 
tense amusement in expectorating on the cast-iron, and hearing 
the curious " sizz," and enjoying the consequent annoyance of 
the Master. As for furniture, a plank ten or twelve feet long, 
with frequent legs, answered for half-a-dozen children ; and a 
like plank, with a slight slope, supported by longer uprights, 
formed a desk that was substantial, if not ornamental. Com- 
fortable chairs, fitted to support every part of the body, and 
handsome desks, with lids or drawers, book-racks, ink-wells, 
etc., etc., were all undreamed of for the school room, and 
would have been regarded as the designs of a fit candidate for 
the insane asylum — had there been such an institution in those 
days. The boys and girls sat on opposite sides of the room, on 
the north and south, respectively, and were about equal in 
numbers. Each pupil brought his or her own books, slates, 
pencils, pens, and ink-bottles, provided by their parents. The 
school held two sessions daily, three hours in the morning and 
three in the afternoon, there being a half-holiday every Satur- 
day afternoon, subsequently changed to a whole holiday every 
other Saturday. Stated vacations were unknown, but the fre- 
quent changes of teachers, who were about as uncertain as are 
church choirs, afforded the children plenty of play-days 
through the year. The rates for " schooling " ranged from six 
to twelve shillings per quarter, while a few of the very oldest 
pupils, who studied unusual branches, occasionally paid two 
dollars per quarter — but that was an extravagance in which 
few parents thought of indulging their children. About 1820 
the teacher was paid twelve shillings per pupil per quarter if 
he " found " himself, or ten shillings if he " boarded 'round." 
Prior to 1826 there was no bridge across the river at Market 



OF SCHOOLS IN PAT ERSON. 11 

street, and until 1S15 there was no river bridge within three 
miles of the VVesel schoolhouse ; consequently those children 
who lived on the opposite shore were ferried over in summer 
by their older brothers or parents, and in winter of course 
crossed on the ice. The space now occupied by Market street 
near the river was then used by the teacher as a garden for the 
raising of vegetables, to eke out his scanty living. — These de- 
tails are given, because of the antiquity of the Wesel school, 
because it was in many respects typical of the earliest country 
schools, though rather superior to most of them, and because 
for nearly a century it enjoyed an enviable reputation through- 
out what is now Paterson. 

Some Old-Time Schoolmasters. 

The first teacher there of whom the writer has been able to 
hear anything was William Jenner. His grand-father came to 
America about the middle of the last century, and his father 
settled at Preakness. William left home and followed the sea 
for some time, picking up an excellent education and a valu- 
able fund of general information, of which he made good 
use when he returned and took charge of the Wesel school, 
about 1798- He next taught school at Preakness, where he 
took Paul's advice and followed after Charity — the daughter of 
James Ackerman. From 1813 to 1815 he taught once more at 
Wesel, living there with his wife and two or three children. 
About this time, or two or three years later, he mysteriously 
disappeared, and was never heard of more by his relatives. 

Joseph Henderson, described by some of his pupils as " a 
" full-blooded Englishman " and " an old tyrant," succeeded 
Jenner at Wesel, about 1802, living in the schoolhouse with a 
charming young wife whom he married at Clifton, and who 
was worshipped b} r the pupils, to whom her kindness was in 
marked contrast to her husband's sternness. Henderson was a 



12 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

capital surveyor, and did considerable work of that sort, run- 
ning out many farm-lines in Acquackanonk, between 1804 and 
1 810, his surveys being regarded as very accurate. While 
at Wesel he created some excitement by instructing the schol- 
ars in the art of declamation, and for the better exercise of their 
lungs, and the accommodation of the parents, who used to at- 
tend the occasional " exhibitions " in crowds, these exercises 
were held in a large barn near by, the floor of which was 
cleared for the purpose. Who shall say that those unpreten- 
tious " exhibitions," held in a dreary barn, were not as de- 
lightsome and intellectual as the more ambitious demonstra- 
tions of our schools and seminaries of to-day? 

About 1806-7, Bernard Sheridan, an intelligent Irishman, 
with a marked brogue, succeeded Henderson at Wesel, and 
kept the school up to a very high standard : so much so, that 
he had as many as seventy pupils at one time, and children 
came as much as three or four miles to enjoy the benefit of his 
instruction. He was teaching there in iSti, as appears by the 
following communication in the Newark " Sentinel " in June 
of that year : 

" On Saturday last a school exhibition was held in Mr. B. 
" N. Sheridan's school, in the neighborhood of Weazel, near 
" Paterson ; and it is but due justice to Mr. Sheridan (consider- 
" ing the short period of tuition) to say that his pupils exceed- 
" ed the most sanguine expectations of their parents, as well as 
" the numerous audience who had the pleasure of being present 
" at the exhibition." 

On Sheridan's tombstone, in the First Reformed Church- 
yard at Passaic, is this flattering tribute to his undoubted 

worth : 

" Here lies an honest man at rest, 
As ever God in his image blest. 

A friend of man, a friend of truth, 
A friend of age, a guide of youth. 
If there's another world he lives in bliss, 
If there's none, he made the best of this." 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 13 

Thomas Gould taught at Wesel about 1S20, being succeed- 
ed by Jacob Goetschius, who " used to take the hide off," say 
some of his old pupils from personal experience. Mr. 
Goetschius taught for a great many years all about this sec- 
tion, and was regarded as a remarkably thorough instructor. 

Bryant Sheys next wielded the rod at Wesel. He was an 
Irishman, who retained a rich brogue to the last. He was a 
political exile, it is said, and came to America about a century 
ago, settling at Taunton, Mass., where he taught school during 
the Revolution. Of the incidents of "the times that tried men's 
" souls," he was very fond of talking, especially when his 
tongue was loosened (and it was ever quite limber) by a glass 
or two. He used to say he " always liked the Baptists, be- 
" cause he never knew a Baptist who was a Tory during the 
" Revolution." He came to Paterson previous to 1800, and 
kept tavern in Oliver street, adjoining St. John's Roman Cath- 
olic Church, and being somewhat of an antiquarian, accumu- 
lated a valuable collection of local curiosities. He sold his tav- 
ern in 1802 to Judge Charles Kinsey (who occupied it as a 
dwelling), and took charge of the Wesel school for a short 
time. He was a Protestant, and married a farmer's daughter 
near Clifton, it is said, and when he resumed his sway at the 
old schoolhouse in 1S23, his wife, his son James B. (after- 
wards a New York lawyer who achieved quite a reputation), 
and his daughter Harriet lived with him. Sheys was short and 
stout in build, was a man of fine parts, an excellent scholar, 
frank and generous, and his only fault was an overfondness for 
a " social glass," which unfortunately grew upon him in his 
later years. He taught at Wesel till 1S28, and died' soon after. 
— His eldest son was something of an artist, who one day see- 
ing Thomas Paine in a butcher's shop, with great rapidity 
sketched his portrait upon the smooth side of the butcher's 
block, and, he used to claim, thus made almost the only por- 



14 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

trait of Paine in existence, that noted free thinker being mor- 
bidly averse to sitting to an artist. This singularly-obtained 
sketch was for many years to be seen at the old " Museum 
Hotel," at the northeast corner of Main and Smith streets, Pat- 
er son. 

One Carpenter succeeded Sheys at Wesel. After him came 
another teacher who remained but a few weeks. He dismissed 
the school one Saturday night, promising the pupils a sound 
flogging on the following Monday morning, for some real or 
fancied misbehavior, But alas for human frailty ! That very 
night he visited a tavern at the Broadway bridge, got drunk, 
fell to fighting, and received two such black eyes and such a 
general battering that he was ashamed to be seen again by his 
pupils, and left the country for parts unknown. And so the 
children's quaking hearts on that gloomy Monday morning 
were once more full of gladness. 

The old schoolhouse which had stood time's ravages for un- 
known years, at last fell into a state of hopeless decay, and 
about 1835 was torn down and replaced by a neat little frame 
building. This was supported as a "Union" school by the 
neighboring families on both sides of the river, until three or 
four years ago, when the State law required all school districts 
to lie wholly in one county. The people on the Bergen countv 
side of the river set about building a schoolhouse of their own, 
and soon the venerable landmark was removed, and the 
" Wesel schoolhouse " is no more. 

First Schools in the Town of Paterson. 

The town of Paterson was founded in the Summer of 1792, 
by the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (popular- 
ly known as the l ' S. U. M." ), which aimed to build up here a 
great manufacturing city. During the following year quite a 
number of families were brought hither, to work in the numer- 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATER SON 15 

ous shops, built or projected, and at a meeting of the Board of 
Directors of the Society, held April 15, 1794, 

" The Superintendent representing to the Board that a num- 
" ber of Children were employed in the Factory, whose par- 
" ents were so poor and the wages of the Children so low, 
" that they cannot get to School, and that if something is not 
" done a number of Children will be withdrawn — resolved 
" therefore that Mr. Colt be authorized to employ a school 
" Master to teach the Children of the Factory on Sunday's * — 
" and that the compensation of the Master shall not exceed Ten 
" shillings per week." 

According to tradition, the late Miss Sarah Colt, the 
daughter of Mr. Peter Colt, the Superintendent of the S. U. 
M., she being at the time but twelve years of age, began in 
April, 17941 to teach some of the factory hands on Sunday, in 
the basement of her father's residence. This Sunday school 
was preceded by but one or two in America. Seventy-four 
years later (in 186S) Miss Colt had the gratification of seeing 
a procession of five thousand Paterson Sunday school children 
march in review past her house, acknowledging her as the 
founder of the system in this city. 

The success of her modest effort at doing good doubtless 
led to the Society's action, mentioned above, and a school ■ 
master was employed to continue the work this child had be- 
gun. The records are silent as to the manner in which this 
movement was carried forward, the only reference thereto be- 
ing the following, in the minutes of January 25, 1796 : 

"Mr. Colt laid before the Board a letter from |no. Wiight, 
" the school master of Paterson, relative to the small tenement 

*It may not be generally known that Sunday schools onginally devoted most of their 
attention to teaching poor children how to read and cipher. So late as 1822, the con- 
stitution of the Taterson Union Sabbath School Society declared that society's object 
to b.e " the instruction of children and youth in the rudiments of the English Lan- 
" guage, Religion and Morality"— elementary' education being placed first. 



16 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

" of the Society which he occupied as a School House for the 
" children in the employ of the Society — 

" Resolved, that the Superintendent do not charge any rent 
" for the said House whilst it was occupied as a School 
" House." 

The Society failed in 1796, and was dormant for nearly 
twenty years, else better school accommodations would have 
been provided, beyond doubt, for at a meeting of the Directors 
held April 5, 1814, 

" The Governor reported that in the first formation of the 
'• Society, it was resolved that a Tract of Land should be ap- 
" propriated for a School and another for a Church — but as 
" there appeared no call for them, in the then State of the So- 
" ciety, nothing was done." 

Within six or eight years after Paterson was founded, a 
schoolhouse was built at the southeast corner of Broadway and 
Prospect street — one story high, of frame, about 20x30 feet in 
area. Hither thirty-five or forty little folks repaired daily to 
learn reading, writing and 'rithmetic. The teacher bore the 
remarkable name of Smith, and his jurisdiction extended over 
a wide range of territory, for children sometimes came from 
Totowa, the " Bocht" (Riverside), and even Wesel, to attend 
" the Paterson school," either because of its superior reputa- 
tation, or because those neighborhoods had no schools, or were 
temporarily in want of teachers. We may dismiss this school 
— or the consideration thereof — by adding that Joseph Sher- 
burne succeeded Mr. Smith, teaching there for three years, up 
to May 1, 1S05, paying the S. U. M. £3 rent per annum, and 
eight shillings for rent of a stove. Bryant Sheys also taught 
there for some time. 

Thomas Wills was one of the last teachers in this building, 
about 1S20. Wills taught in and about Paterson (especially at 
Wagaraw) for perhaps tnirty years, and was highly esteemed 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 17 

by pupils and parents. Being a very superior penman, he was 
employed in 179S to transcribe the records of Saddle River 
township from 17891 a task which he executed with great neat- 
ness. He was a fluent speaker, and was a leading member of 
a little debating society which used to meet on Saturday nights 
in Godwin's or Weller's tavern, sixty or seventy years ago. An 
oration which he delivered in Paterson on the Fourth of July, 
181 1, was so greatly admired that it was published in full in 
the Newark Sentinel, September 10, following. It is quite a 
rhetorical effort, and delivered by a good speaker must have 
sounded well. Wills lived during the later years of his life in 
a modest little house, still standing in Broadway, now the resi- 
dence of Mr. E. B. King. A quaint knocker on the door con- 
tained a strip of brass on which was engraved an imitation of 
his autograph. Before the establishment of a postoffice at Pat- 
erson, the published lists of unclaimed letters in the Newark 
office generally advertised one or more missives for the Pater- 
son pedagogue, showing that he carried on quite a correspon- 
dence. Wills died here February 7, 1S23, aged fifty-two years, 
and lies interred in the neglected old burying ground at the 
foot of Totowa. His son, of the same name, was admitted to 
the New York bar in 181 7. 

An Ambitious Enterprise. 

In 1799? Paterson being then a village of but two or 
three hundred inhabitants, there was attempted here a project 
so ambitious as to excite a smile when we consider its charac- 
ter and the circumstances under which it was started. This 
was a public boarding school, for young ladies and gentlemen, 
conducted by the Rev. John Phillips and wife. The young 
ladies' school was kept in the " Old Hotel," a large wooden 
building erected in 1794-5 for hotel purposes, on Market street, 
between Hotel and Union, and destroyed by fire in June, 184S. 



18 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

The young gentlemen were taught in the old " Colt House," a 
two-story-and basement frame dwelling, occupied by the Colt 
family for several years, and standing on Market street near 
Main, the site of the present Masonic Hall. It was said by the 
late Judge Dickerson* that these schools were well attended for 
two years. From an old account-book in the writer's possession 
it would appear that the enterprise was continued until the 
Spring of 1S03, or for nearly four years. Phillips appears to have 
been in a state of chronic impecuniosity, paying "on account" 
but two or three times a year. Judge Dickerson said the dis- 
continuance of the schools was owing to causes of which he 
had no knowledge. The old account-book referred to would 
seem to furnish an explanation. The Rev. Mr. Phillips was 
incessantly buying rye or corn — averaging six bushels of the 
former weekly, varying with the latter in the Spring. Now, 
rye and corn may be a wholesome diet, but after a while must 
get rather monotonous, and if the reverend boading-school keep- 
er really fed his pupils on such food (and he does not appear to 
have bought any other), is it any wonder that his school even- 
tually ran down? Mind, I do not assert it as a positive fact 
that he really was so extreme a vegetarian as to provide such a 
bill of fare as rye and corn to his pupils, but if he did, the fail- 
ure of his educational institution was not surprising. He is 
charged June 3, 1S01, with £44 ($no) rent for a house; and 
June 19, 1S02, with £50 ($125) rent for a house and barn; 
also with " one season's rent for two ten plate stoves, at ten 
" shillings each." In the Spring of 1803 he was sued for rent, 
etc., by the S. U. M., and his property sold to pay his debts. 
Phillips was something of a farmer, owned land on Totowa, 
and kept at least eight cows. After he was sold out, he left 
this part of the country. Mr. Phillips was probably the first 
clergyman who preached in the English language in or about 
* A Lecture on the City of Paterson, 1856, p. 21. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 19 

Paterson, holding Sunday meetings in his school -room in the 
Colt house. He was doubtless a graduate of Princeton in 
j 774** To his matriculation there he may have owed the fact 
that Richard Stockton (of the class of 1779) sen t at least one 
child to Mr. Phillips to receive ' ; schooling," for which Mr. P. 
was paid $81.39 m May, 1802. The real failure of this ambi- 
tious attempt was doubtless because it was at least three-quart- 
ers of a century in advance of the times. 

Other Schools and Schoolmasters. 

For the year ending May 1, 1S06, the Colt house in Market 
street near Main was occupied in part by the family of Mr. 
Henderson, previously at the Wesel school, he paying £50 
($125) rent for the building. He gave instruction in mental 
gunnery to about thirty children. To their great joy, he soon 
left, and subsequently removed to the far-off wilderness of 
Ohio, settling at or near Cincinnati, where it was subsequently 
reported that he had made a handsome fortune in civil engin- 
eering. 

David Stevenson hired the same house during the year end- 
ing May 1, 1S07. 

Thomas Wills and Abraham Willis are also said to have 
taught there. 

Willis was a surveyor, apparently a man of superior intelli- 
gence, whose dwelling still stands, in Willis street, next the 
Baptist church. Dying Monday, December 3,1810, the New- 
ark " Sentinel " remarked of him : " His life was useful, his 
" character generous, honest and truly respected. His death 
" most sincerely regretted, and his memory will ever be dear to 
" every lover of his country." 

From 1810 to ]Si2, the building was occupied for a school 
by "Joseph Sherburne, above mentioned. He came to Pater- 

* Princeton Triennial Catalogue. 



20 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

son from Maine as early as 1S00, taught school ten or twelve 
years, then kept a store and acted as Justice of the Peace, until 
his death in 1829, in his sixtieth year. 

About 1804-10 there was a very select school kept in the 
rooms over Henry Godwin's store, at the southwest corner of 
River and Bank streets, by the sweet, refined and intellectual 
wife of Benjamin Helme (who died there May 17, 1S04), his 
poverty being thought by some to be the result of his reputa- 
tion, which was such as to gain for him the extraordinary 
soubriquet, " the Honest Lawyer." Mrs. Helme had few pu- 
pils, but they were of the best families in the place. 

The north or "Manchester" side of the river had been 
growing steadily in population, and about 1S09-10 a frame 
schoolhouse some twenty feet square, one story high and very 
rough in its construction, was erected fifteen or twenty feet in 
the rear of the old Totowa Dutch church on Water street near 
Matlock. Richard Todd was the first teacher, doubtless, and 
he is said to have been equal to teaching anything.* One 
Thompson, an Irishman, taught there about 181 2-13. For sev- 
eral years John W. House, a leading Baptist, had charge of the 
school ; in 1824 he had forty pupils. In 1825 the school seems 
to have passed into the hands of Charles Upson, who had thir- 
ty-five scholars. In 1827 Mr. House had resumed the teach- 
er's desk and rod, and swayed the latter over forty-five heads. 
The schoolhouse was occasionally used for evening church 
meetings through the week, and in winter the young people 
gathered there for frolics under the guise of " singing- 
" schools." 

The early annals of this school, were they fully chronicled, 

would be found crowded with records of fierce battles between 

the pupils from the opposite sides of the river — there being an 

* Still earlier than this, Todd taught a school in the western part of Totowa, per- 
haps where the Totowa District School now stands. 



OF SCHOOLS lit PATmsON. 21 

inveterate animosity between " the Dutch boys " on the North 
side against the " the Paterson boys" — whom they regarded as 
intruders — " carpet-baggers," so to speak — on the South side. 
One winter's day sixty years or more ago, the leader of " the 
" Paterson boys " dared the enemy to follow him across the 
river on the ice, and threatened them with figurative annihil- 
ation if they presumed to venture on Paterson soil. In his eager 
defiance, as he backed across the river, his face to the foe, he 
failed to perceive the dangers behind, and suddenly he broke 
through the treacherous ice, and only escaped a watery grave 
through the promptness of a family servant of his grandfather's, 
who had noticed the boy's danger from the Passaic Hotel. In 
the excitement of the moment the enmity between the clans 
was forgotten, and the leader of " the Dutch fellows" cor- 
dially clasped hands with the doughty champion of " the Pat- 
erson boys." * 

On the south side of Broadway, opposite the Washington 
Market, there formerly stood a long, old-fashioned building, 
originally a tavern. The upper floor was occupied for a school 
for many years ; an outside stairway at the western end led up 
to it. Otis Wilmarth wielded the rod there in 1824, and Mrs. 
Phoebe Fairchild conducted the school in 1825. In 1826 John 
W. Woodward came from New York to take charge, offering 
" to instruct youth in Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Geo- 
*' graphy, and Grammar, for $3 a scholar per quarter." Brad- 
ford W. Lyon (familiarly known as "Dominie" Lyon) also 
taught there at one time. 

An old stone house on the site of Mrs. John R. Van 
Houten's residence, on Broadway, adjoining the Erie Railway, 
was occupied for a school by Thomas Wills prior to 1S13, 

Another building long used in part for school purposes was 

.* For names, etc., consult the still active Captain Stephen Allen, and Mr. Abraham 
H. Godwin. 



22 HISTORICAL BKETOB 

that large double tenement house in Marshall street, east side, 
a short distance south of Oliver ; B. W. Lyon taught the chil- 
dren about 1819-20. 

The following lists of (private) schools, etc., in Paterson in 
the years named were made at the time by the Rev. Dr. Sam- 
uel Fisher, and are doubtless quite complete : 

1824 — Mrs. Haywood, Oliver street, 40 scholars; Enoch 
Williams, Ward street, 45 scholars; Mrs. Joseph F. James, 
Congress street (now Market, west of Union), 40 scholars. 
(Her husband appears to have kept a beer and cake shop in 
the same house.) James McGrorty, John street, 25 day and 10 
evening scolars ; Mr. and Mrs. Davis, Market street, near 
Union (doubtless in "the Academy"), 80 and 10 scholars; 
Otis Wilmarth, Broadway near Washington street, 45 schol- 
ars ; Jacob Goetschius, Division street (near Washington, 
building erected in 1824), 40 scholars. This makes a total of 
315 children attending day-school, out of a population of 2,17s 
persons under sixteen years of age. 

1S25 — Mrs. (Win.) and Miss Haywood, Oliver street, 35 
scholars; Uzal Freeman, Prospect street, 70 scholars ; Mrs. 
Phoebe Fairchild, Broadway near Washington street, 22 schol- 
ars ; Mrs. Van Winkle, Market street, between Clark and 
Prince, 30 scholars ; I. Mosher, Market street, between Clark 
and Union, 37 scholars ; Jacob Catlin, about the same location, 
(probably both were in " the Academy "), 12 scholars ; Mrs. 
Wilde, Market street, between Union and Main (probably in 
the " Colt House"), 15 scholars ; Wm. L. Roberts and Jacob 
Goetschius, Washington street (doubtless Division street near 
Washington, as in 1824), 102 scholars. Total, 323 scholars. 

1S27 — Enoch Williams, Main street near Broadway, — 
scholars ; Miss Walmsley, Ward street, 9 scholars ; A. Van 
Winkle, Ward street, 38 scholars ; the Rev. James C. Fisher 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATER SON. 23 

Ward street, corner Cross, 31 scholars* ; Mrs. A. L. Wilde, 
Congress street, 12 scholars ; Hugh Dougherty, White Alle} r , 
60 scholars ; Wm. B. Hamilton, John street, 60 day and even- 
ing scholars ; Miss Bumstead, Prospect street, 6 scholars ; 
Z. Searle, Prospect street, 70 scholars ; Jacob Goetschius, Di- 
vision street, 105 scholars ; Moses E. De Witt, Broadway near 
Main street, 28 scholars ; L. Sythoff, Market street near Clark 
(the Academy?), 45 scholars. Total, 469 children attending 
school. (In a newspaper summary Dr. Fisher stated that there 
were " eleven male and six female schools," attended by 633 
scholars. |) 

In 1829 — Dr. Fisher published a summary as follows : 
Number of school children between three and sixteen years, 
2,629 ; there were in the town nineteen pay-schools, twelve 
male and seven female, in which were instructed 664 children. 
" There is a free school for poor children which is supported 
" by the town ; also an infant school for children between three 
" and eight years; 121 pupils at present. There are six Sab- 
" bath schools, in which are instructed 1,072 scholars ; of these, 
" 528 attend no other school. Consequently there are in Pat- 
" erson 1,393 children who enjoy daily or weekly instruction 
" in the different schools." \ Among the educational an- 
nouncements in the newspapers of the day were the following : 

May, 1826 — M. E. De* Witt, from Greenville Academy, New 
York, gives notice that he will open a school " in Main street, 
u in the room above the Hat Store of Mr. Brown " — a few 
doors north of Van Houten street, on the west side. In addi- 
tion to the ordinary English branches, he undertook to teach 
Latin and Greek. Mr. De Witt soon became a successful pol- 

*For some years Mr. Fisher occupied the lecture-room of the First Presbyterian 
Church— a small frame building, subsequently removed to Ward street, south side, 
next to the corner of Cross, where it was used as a dwelling. This Spring it was re- 
moved to Cross street, west side, one door north of Oliver, and remodeled. 

t Paterson Intelligencer, July 25, 1S2T. 
' t Paterson Intelligencer, Aug. 26, 1829. 



24 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

itician, and was rewarded with the postoffice about 1832, a few 
years after coming to Paterson, and in 1843 was elected Sheriff 
of the county. 

May, 1826 — Mrs. Hamilton, from Belfast (Ireland), adver- 
tises a school for young ladies, in John street, for plain and or- 
namental needle work, etc. A Mr. Hamilton (presumably her 
husband) already had a school in that street. 

April, 1829 — A "Common School" was opened by Mr. 
Larned in Mr. Goetschius's schoolhouse in Division street near 
Washington ; terms, $1.50 and $2. 

May, 1829 — Mi. Hartley, from Providence, Rhode Island, 
began a school in the basement of the Baptist church in Broad- 
way, between West and Mulberry streets, now occupied by the 
Second German Presbyterian Church. These premises were 
occupied at different times through many years for school pur- 
poses. 

In the Fall of 1S31, Isaac Serven opened a day and evening 
school in the basement of the old Main street Reformed 
Church. 

The Rev. John Croes, jr., rector of St. Paul's Episcopal 
Church, 1825-30, had a very superior classical school at one 
time in the rear of his residence, which occupied the site of the 
present First Presbyterian Church parsonage on Market street. 

The mere mention of these names will recall to many of 
our older citizens the circumstances under which they ac- 
quired the education that was considered sufficient in those 
days " to give a boy a start in the world." Of the character of 
the instruction imparted, it may be said in brief that it was as 
diverse as the teachers who flitted across the early dawn of ed- 
ucational progress in Paterson. 

Female Education. 
Female education received considerable attention in those 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 25 

days, and some branches were taught which no longer find a 
place in the most elaborate courses of study in the most famous 
of modern seminaries for young women. A few specimens of 
the curriculum and charges of a "young ladies' school" in 
Paterson half a century ago may not be without interest. 

In April, 1826, Mrs. Wilde advertised that the Summer- 
term of her school would begin May 8, " in the School Room 
" now occupied by her, at the Corner of Main and Congress 
" Streets, in the Village of Paterson, where Young Ladies will 
" be carefully instructed in the various branches of English 
" Education, — such as, Reading, Writing, English Grammar, 
" Arithmetic, Geography, History, and Rhetoric. Also, Em- 
" broidery on Lace, to any required pattern for Veils, Dresses, 
" Caps, Edgings, &c. Also, the most approved method of 
" Painting on Velvet, of taking any pattern of Flowers, and of 
" Painting them in a superior manner." 

This was in the old " Colt House." 

In November, 1826, Miss Collis began a " select school for 
" young ladies," " in the house lately occupied by Miss Ben- 
" net, on the bank of the river." She proposed " to teach Read- 
" ing, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar and Composition, His- 
tory, Rhetorick, Philosophy [i. e., physics] and Chemistry, 
" with Drawing and Painting in water colours, Velvet Paint- 
" ing, Lace, and other ornamental Needle-Work. Hours of 
" attendance from nine in the morning until three in the after- 
'.' noon. Saturday will be devoted to Drawing. Terms from $3 
" to $5. Drawing a separate charge of $5. Velvet Painting $3. 
" Lace- Working, separately, $3." 

In May, 1828, Mrs. Conover opened a young ladies' school 
which seemed to be on a less ambitious scale than the above, 
" at the brick house lately built in Broadway, the second house 
" next to Mr. Robert King's. * Terms — for Reading and 

* Broadway, north side, between Washington and Bridge, 
M 



26 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

" Plain Sewing, $3 per quarter ; with Writing and Arithmetic, 
" $4 per qr. ; with Geography and Fine Needle Work, $5 
" per qr." 

There are people who think that some features of that 
course of study — to wit, the " plain sewing " and " fine needle 
" work" — might be introduced with advantage into the schools 
of to-day. 

The Paterson- Academy. 

The premature attempt of the Rev. Mr. Phillips to found a 
school of a higher order in Paterson was followed a few years 
later by an organized effort of a number of leading citizens to 
establish a superior institution of learning in the place. On 
May 6, 181 1, a The Paterson Academy" was formally incor- 
porated under the provisions of the general " Act to incorpor- 
ate societies for the promotion of learning," the following 
gentlemen being elected Trustees : Abraham Van Houten, 
Charles Kinsey, John Parke, Samuel Colt, William Ellison. 
Mr. Van Houten was an old resident, who lived where the 
" Wigwam " now stands, an extensive property-owner, and at 
this time was the agent of the S. U. M. Charles Kinsey had 
started a paper mill here in 1802, and was one of the most in- 
telligent, progressive and valuable citizens Paterson has ever 
had. John Parke was another man of great enterprise Sam- 
uel Colt was a new-comer, a nephew of Peter Colt, of superior 
education and foremost in every good work for several years ; 
he had just started a rolling mill, under the patronage of his 
cousin, Roswell L. Colt. William Ellison was a native of 
Ireland, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, and of 
great ability as a physician. 

The Society U. M. generously gave a site for the Academ}', 
at the southeast corner of Market and Union streets. The 
latter thoroughfare was not opened till later, when, and for 
many years after, it was known as Academy street. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 27 

Referring to this matter in 1814, the Governor of the S. U. 
M. reported to the Directors : 

'■ That lately the population has so increased, that it became 
" absolutely necessary, to build a school house. A Lot was 
" fixed on in the least inconvenient place for the Society, and 
" that he executed a Deed to the Trustees of the School ac- 
•' cordingly." 

His action was formally approved by the Board. The deed 
was executed September 4, 1S12, but it is not unlikely that the 
lot had been occupied by the Trustees before this date. The 
Academy was a very plain frame structure, two stories high, 
about forty feet long on Market street, and twenty-five feet 
deep. The records of the society would doubtless be interest- 
ing reading, could they be found. Without them, the details 
of the school's history are exceedingly scanty. About 1820, 
, Bradford W. Lyon is said to have taught there. James W. 
King was in charge for a while, and was succeeded by a Mr. 
Ware, who introduced the then popular Lancasterian system 
of managing by monitors. 

In 1S23 the Trustees advertise the opening of the Academy 
on June 2d, "under the superintendence of Mr. William S. 
"Davis, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assisted by Mrs. D. and a 
" young lady," who were to " take charge of the female part 
" of the school." Reading, writing and plain needle work 
were taught at the very reasonable rate of $3 per quarter ; 
arithmetic, the elements of grammar and geography, for $2.50 ; 
" the critical and more abstruse parts of Geography and His- 
" tory upon a new and interesting plan, with drawing and use 
" of Maps," $3 ; rhetoric, composition, drawing, painting, 
botany and " the translation of the French," $4. A Latin 
class was also promised, " under the superintendence of a 
" young Gentleman of ability," as soon as a sufficient number 
pf scholars should offer. 



$8 T&lSfORIOAL SKETdS 

In the Fail of 1S25, Dr. Lambert Sythoff, a physician who 
practiced out of school hours, took charge of the Academy, 
and his reputation was such that his complement of pupils was 
more than filled at once. During the following Spring he de- 
voted eight hours a day to instruction, the better to accommo- 
date the scholars. In a prospectus dated March, 1826, Dr. 
Sythoff says : 

" In this Seminary, youth are led by easy gradations from 
" the first rudiments of knowledge, to the higher classics, and 
" to every species of Literary acquirement that may qualify 
" them for admission into any of the classes of American Col- 
" leges, or fit them for the various stations of active life." 

It is probable that the Trustees had ere this ceased to have 
anything to do with the school, and simply rented the building 
to teachers. In the Spring of 1829 the Rev. Wm. J. Gibson 
" informed his friends and the public" that he intended " open- 
" ing a school in the lower room of the Academy, lately occu- 
" pied by Mr. De Witt." At the same time Mr. Lyon an- 
nounced the beginning of his " next quarter" in " the upper 
" room of the Academy ; also an evening school." Of Lyon 
it has been said : " He had been clerk, writer, pettifogger, 
" pedagogue, politician and editor ; and though a man of very 
" moderate parts, by his constant mingling in public matters 
'' became quite a prominent character in the town."* Lyon 
was a native of Litchfield, Conn., and came to Paterson from 
Middlesex county, New Jersey, in 1816 or 1S17, opening a 
school at 65 or 67 Broadway. He died suddenly, January 30, 
1838, aged fifty-five years. 

About 1S30, Henry White, during the later years of his life 
(he died in 1865) known as "Daddy" White, taught upstairs 
in the Academy, and a Mr. Collins on the first floor. 

♦Paper read by the late Wm. Gledhill, before the Passaic County Historical Soci- 
ety, July 16, 1S6T, 



OP SCHOOLS 1$ PAT fiRBON. 29 

The association seems to have become financially embar- 
rassed soon after this. In 1S36 the Legislature authorized 
those of the subscribers who had paid $8 to assign their inter- 
est to the Trustees. The building was then removed to an- 
other lot belonging to the S. U. M., at the northwest corner of 
Academy (or Union) and Smith streets, for which $600 was to 
be, but never was, paid. The structure was remodeled, and 
continued in use as a school-house for ten years, being 
partially destroyed by fire in 1846. The concern being now 
hopelessly bankrupt, Mr. Nathaniel Lane, for the Trustees, 
surrendered the premises to the S. U. M., November 29, 1848, 
and " the Paterson Academy " was a thing of the past. 

Though it scarcely realized all the hopes indulged in by its 
founders, the Academy in its day exerted a moral influence not 
easily estimated. While it stood, Science had a home peculiar- 
ly her own. New church societies met there till they were 
strong enough to build for themselves * ; the first permanent 
Sunday school in Paterson (the First Presbyterian) was or- 
ganized there ; it was the popular lyceum ; and indeed, for 
fifteen or twenty years " the Academy " was the headquarters 
of nearly every movement for the spiritual, moral, intellectual, 
social or physical improvement of the town — so naturally do 
men turn to the schoolhouse as the proper starting-point for 
any good work the}' may have in hand. 

Other Academies. 

The Methodists erected a neat little frame edifice for religious 
worship in Prospect street (where the present church stands), 
in 1820, and in the Winter of 1824-5 put up on the same lot a 
frame building, the front of which was adapted for a dwelling 
and the rear for a Sunday school, etc. January 20, 1825, Mr. 
Uzal W. Freeman moved into the yet unfinished building with 

*Among them, the First Presbyterian, in 1813, and St. Paul's Episcopal, in 1818. 



30 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

his family, and four days later opened che " Methodist Acad- 
emy."* Two months later he was obliged to give up the 
dwelling to the Rev. John Creamer, the first regular pastor of 
the church. The successive preachers lived in this building 
till 1830. Mr. Freeman was very successful with his school, 
and during the Summer of 1825 had seventy pupils. f He 
kept it up until July, 1826, when he went to Newark, and al- 
though he returned a few months later he did not resume 
teaching, but applied himself to surveying and book-keeping — 
regarded as cognate pursuits a generation ago — until 1833, 
when he removed to Ohio, where he remained until his death. 
He was a native of Orange, N. J., but came to Paterson from 
Montville, Morris county. 

In April, 1826, Edwin E. Griswold, from Connecticut, ad- 
vertised that he had leased the " Methodist Academy " for one 
year, and would also teach evening school ; but a week later he 
confessed that he had not met with sufficient encouragement, 
and the school remained in charge of Mr. Freeman a few 
months longer, when Zetus Searle took it in hand — a young 
man, lame, who kept the school up to the standard, seventy 
children attending in 1S27. \ He removed to New York, con- 
tinuing there as a teacher. The " Methodist Academy " then 
passed under the control of a Mr. Briggs, who was succeeded 
by a one-legged pedagogue, who was an excellent preceptor, 
too, about 1 830- 1. 

About May 1, 1S29, the Rev. Jacob T. Field, pastor of the 
Second Reformed Church, started the " Manchester Acad- 
" emy," in a roomy building which he erected for the purpose 
adjoining his residence on Water street, nearly opposite Al- 
bion. Eighty to one hundred pupils could be accommodated. 
Mr. Field conducted the classical department, and Asahel Ab- 

*MS. Diary of A. H. Freeman, Esq., of Orange, son of Uzal W. Freeman. 
tJDr. Fisher's Census of Paterson, 1825.— Nelson MSS, 
t Ibid, 1827. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 31 

bott, of New Hampshire, taught the English branches. The 
school seems to have been quite successful, but Mr. Field dis- 
posed of his interest in it in 1831. * 

In connection with these movements for a higher education, 
it may be remarked that teachers of languages frequently came 
to Paterson, often remaining for some time. One Daniel Hey 
man taught French at the old Academy, and gave private les- 
sons in the same, during 1S26. 

John J. Larena, a Spaniard, in the same year offered to teach 
persons how to read his native tongue in four lessons, but pru- 
dently required forty lessons to instruct his pupils how to con- 
verse in Spanish. 

In the Spring of 1S29 a number of the Paterson admirers of 
Miss Fanny Wright organized the "Jefferson Institute," the 
nominal object of which was to establish a public school "•free 
" from sectarian bias," the projectors being deeply tainted with 
the Deistic or atheistic sentiments prevalent at that day. A 
school was actually kept up for a few months in St. John's 
(Masonic) Hall, which then stood on Broadway where Wash- 
ington street now joins that thoroughfare, from the south. 

About the same time, a far nobler movement in the direction 
of higher education was started by some young men, who 
formed a " Philosophical Society," for their mutual improve- 
ment and the instruction of others. At their weekly meetings 
there were addresses and discussions evincing extensive study 
and deep thought on the part of the participants. The So- 
ciety became very popular, and won the respect and sympathy 
of the better class of citizens, who contributed freely of books 
and money, until a valuable library and collection of philoso- 
phical apparatus had been acquired. The members were so 
greatly encouraged by their success that in 1832 they bought a 

* Paterson newspapers of the day. In 1825 the " Po-npton Union Academy " was 
flourishing at Pompton, managed by Trustees. Mr. Harrison, from Princeton Col- 
lege, was in charge. 



32 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

plot, 50x100 feet, at the northwest corner of Ward and Main 
streets, and erected a fine building for a " Mechanics' Insti- 
" tute." It was an enterprise too extensive for their means, 
and in advance of the popular demand — though not of the pop- 
ular need. The Institute soon ran behind in its finances, then 
in its usefulness and interest, and after languishing for some 
years was disbanded and the property passed into other hands.* 
It was really the most promising attempt that has been made 
in Paterson to supply the demand that has always been sup- 
posed to exist, for an institution devoted peculiarly to the high- 
er educafion and cultivation of mechanics. That this attempt 
received little or no support from that class, and that no such 
institution has yet been permanently established, would seem 
to indicate that the want referred to is more imaginary than 
real. 

First Free Schools. 

Until 1827, there was no free public-school in Paterson or in 
the present limits of Passaic county. The Legislature had en- 
acted a law in 1820 looking toward the establishment of free 
popular education, but few communities availed themselves of 
its provisions for many years. In some cases Township Trus- 
tees selected teachers for what were called the public schools, 
and a small tax was raised to help defray the expenses, but the 
parents paid the teacher a certain sum for each child's tuition ; 
the children of indigent families were of course taught free, if 
they were willing to be distinctively known as " poor children," 
as few of them were. 

A number of the public-spirited citizens of Paterson being 
of the opinion that the town ought to support a free school, 
held a meeting at the Academy on Saturday, April 7, 1827, and 
appointed Mark W. Collet, Dr. James Warren and Abraham 

* It is now occupied by Dr. Charles Inglis as a residence. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 33 

Godwin, Jr., a committee to draw up a memorial to be pre- 
sented for the consideration of the voters at the Town Meeting 
the next Monday, recommending the raising by tax of $400 for 
school purposes in Acquackanonk township, " to be expended 
" by the Town Committee, agreeable to the act of 1820, in the 
" education of poor children of the township." This recom- 
mendation was almost unanimously adopted by the voters at 
the Town Meeting. In June the Town Committee met and 
allotted $275 to Paterson and $125 to the rest of the township, 
a committee of prominent citizens being appointed " to take 
"' charge and select such children whose parents were not able 
" to pay for their education, and employ teachers and apportion 
" the amount of money equally amongst them for their educa- 
tion :" for Paterson — the Rev. Samuel Fisher (Presbyterian), 
the Rev. John Croes, jr. (Episcopalian), the Rev. Francis O'- 
Donoghue (Roman Catholic), the Rev. John Kennaday (Metn- 
odist Episcopal), the Rev. Daniel D. Lewis (Baptist), the 
Rev. Wm.J. Gibson (Covenanter), and Mr. Caleb Munson 
Godwin ; for the neighborhood of Acquackanonk — the Rev. 
Solomon Frosligh (True Reformed Dutch), the Rev. Benjamin 
C. Taylor (Reformed Dutch), and Mr. Cornelius G. Van Ri- 
per ; for the neighborhood of the Notch and Little Falls — 
Messrs. Evert H. Van Ness, John R. Speer, Ezekiel Miller. 
The Paterson committee engaged the Rev. Mr. Gibson, a grad- 
uate of Washington College, Penn., at $75 per quarter, he to 
find his own fuel ; they also hired the lower room of the Acad- 
emy, at $7-5o per quarter, and the first free school in Passaic 
County was opened there July 2, 1S27. During the year, 134 
scholars were enrolled, 70 or So of whom began with the al- 
phabet ; the average attendance was about 80, and the children 
made admirable progress. The school was visited at least 
once a week by some member of the committee. 

The experiment was so successful that at the next Town 

N 



34 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

Meeting, in April, 1828, the sum of $500 was voted for school 
purposes, which the Town Committee thus apportioned : Pat- 
erson, $340 ; Committee — the Rev. Messrs. Fisher, O'Dono- 
ghue, Gibson, Wiggins (Reformed Dutch), Croes and Lewis, 
and Adrian Van Houten ; Acquackanonk, $50 ; Committee 
(also for Wesel) — the Rev. B. C. Taylor and C. G. Van Riper ; 
Wesel, $30 ; the Notch, $30 ; Committee — John R. Speer and 
Simeon Brown ; Little Falls, $50 ; Committee — Ezekiel Mil- 
ler and Evert H. Van Ness. The Paterson Committee held 
their school in the room under the Baptist (now Second Ger- 
man Presbyterian) church edifice on Broadway, near Mulberry 
street. The Rev. Mr. Gibson declined a re-engagement at the 
old rates, and started a school of his own in Mr. Goetschius's 
building; so the Committee employed a Mr. Childs, a gradu- 
ate of Union College, N. Y., at a salary of $300, he to find his 
own fuel. He remained but two quarters, when Mr. Gibson 
took charge once more. The number of scholars this year 
was 157, with an average attendance of 80. No reports were 
published by the other Committees. 

In 1829, $500 was voted, and appropriated as in 1828, the 
Committee being : for Paterson — John W. Berry, David Reid 
and John Strong ; Acquackanonk and Wesel — Cornelius G. 
Van Riper, Esq. ; Little Falls and the Notch — Simeon Brown, 
John R. Speer, Ezekiel Miller, Evert H. Van Ness. 

The records for 1830 have not been found. 

The Elm Street Infant School. 

A number of benevolent ladies of the town who had long de- 
sired to provide gratuitous education for the children of the 
poor, agitated the subject during the winter of 1S26-7, and pre- 
pared their plans for starting an " infant school " for the free 
education of poor children between the ages of three and eight 
years. They expected to have shared in the apportionment of 



OF SCEOOLS IN PATERSON. 35 

the township school-tax (and indeed claimed the credit for se- 
curing the levying of that tax), but failing to receive help from 
that source, they with commendable pluck organized the " In- 
" fant School Society," May n, 1827, in the lecture room of 
the Baptist Church, and appointed as officers : Mrs. Fisher, 1st 
Directress ; Mrs. E. Berry, 2d do. ; Mrs. S. Collet, Secretary 
(declined, and Miss C. Colt appointed) ; Miss M. Wallace, 
Treasurer (declined, and Miss E. Colt appointed) ; Mrs. P. 
Sythoff, Mrs. E. B. D. Ogden (declined), Miss R. Wallace 
(declined), Mrs. E. Catlin, Miss M. Godwin, Miss S. Colt, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Speer, Mrs. Eveline Godwin, Miss Jane Van 
Houten, Managers. Mrs. Catharine Inslee was employed as 
teacher, and the Society U. M. gave the free use of a room. 
The school opened August 1st, 1S27 ; 92 children were en- 
rolled during the year, the average attendance the first two 
quarters being between 50 and 60, and during the third quarter 
between 70 and 80, families of eveiy denomination contribut- 
ing. The ladies received $65 from voluntary contributions, 
and paid their teacher $85. May 1st, 1828, the ladies engaged 
Mrs. Inslee (a daughter of Abraham Willis, previously men- 
tioned as a teacher) at a salary of $150 per year ; the Society 
U. M. gave a lot of land, and through the generosity of a few 
friends a neat frame schoolhouse was erected in Elm street, 
where the German Presbyterian Church now stands. Thus 
this noble enterprise was placed on a firm basis, and for a gen- 
eration or more afforded rudimentary instruction to those who 
else would have received none. In its later years, the upper 
floor was occupied for a " select school " by Miss Rachel Red 
man (" Aunt Rachel," everybody has always called her), 
while the " Infant School " was conducted by Miss Isabella 
Ray (now the wife of Charles Smith Kinsey, of Newark), 
under the auspices of the " Infant School Society," the chil- 
dren of the poor being charged the nominal tuition fee of one 



36 HISTORICAL SKETCH 



cent per week. Miss Redman charged her pupils $1.50 per 
quarter. 

Paterson Township Schools. 

The township of Paterson having been incorporated in 1S31, 
in that year the inhabitants voted a tax of $300, " to be appro- 
priated for a free school of all denominations," and elected the 
Rev. James Richards, John Brown and Henry Whitely a 
School Committee. The sum of $203.50 was also received 
from the State. In 1832-3-4, $300 was voted. In 1835 it was 
' Resolved, that nothing be raised this year for support of Free 
' Schools, inasmuch as the law will not allow the school 
'money to be appropriated for the exclusive benefit of poor 
' children — and the Town Meeting recommend the School 
k Committee in behalf of the inhabitants of Paterson, to peti- 
' tion the Legislature of the State of New Jersey to alter or 
' amend the Law, that each township can have it in their pow- 
' er to appropriate their school money for one or more 
'schools." Accordingly, January 26, 1S36, the Legislature 
passed " An act to provide for the establishment of Public 
' Schools, in the township of Paterson, in the county of Es- 
' sex." This act made it the duty of the School Trustees " to 
' establish one or more public schools within the township of 
' Paterson, and provide, as far as the means may extend, for 
' the education of all children in the said township not other- 
' wise provided for, whether such children be or be not the 
' proper objects of gratuitous education." The Trustees were 
also " authorized to require of the pupils received into the 
' schools under their charge, a moderate compensation adapt- 
' ed to the ability of the parents of such children." No child 
was to be " denied the benefit of said public school on the ground 
' of inability to pay for the same," but should " at all times be 
' freely received and educated by the said Trustees." The 



OF SCHOOLS i# PATFIttSOtf. 8? 

Trustees were authorized, with the approval of the Town 
Committee, to acquire and dispose of real school property. 

The township school tax in 1836 was only $200; in 1837-8, 
$500 ; in 1839, nothing* ; in 1840-41, $500 ; in 1842-3, $300 ; in 
1844-5-6-7-8-9, $500; in 1850, no tax for any purpose was vot- 
ed, save $50 for the poor — and that only after several town 
meetings had been called. 

In 1847, a Superintendent of Public Schools was elected, for 
the first time (the office having been created under the general 
school law of 1846), Silas D. Canfield being chosen. In 1848 
there was none appointed; in 1849, John K. Flood was 
elected. 

The designation, " free schools for the poor," was dropped 
after 1S36, and they were known as " free schools " or " public 
schools," open to all classes and creeds. 

The School Committee, originally composed of three mem- 
bers, was by the act of 1836 increased to not less than five nor 
more than nine members, and generally included some of the 
most prominent citizens of the town,| 

The school accommodations in the days of the township 
educational system were rude and temporary. In 1835-6, the 
school was held in the Mechanics' Institute. In 1837-8 the 
Committee hired the basement of the Cross street Methodist 
Episcopal church, and the school was carried on there for two 
years. The first term of the Passaic County Courts was held 
in the same premises in the Spring of 1837, the school taking 
a brief vacation meanwhile, or occupying a building in the 

* In 183S an act was passed prohibiting townships from raising more than double 
the amount of their respective apportionments of the State school fund. By an act 
of February 20, 1839, Paterson was relieved from this restriction, and the inhabit- 
ants were authorized to raise for the support of public sohools any amount. The 
failure to vote anything, after securing this liberal legislation, is singular. It is be- 
lieved the Committee elected in 1838 were regarded by the citizens as too progressive, 
and they were accordingly ousted, and no school money voted. 

tFor list of School Committeemen, 1831-50, see Appendix. 



38 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

rear of the church. The basement of the Baptist church in 
Broadway (now owned by the Second German Presbyterian 
church) was next occupied by the public school, which re- 
mained there for several years. Then it was removed to the 
old "Academy," corner of Union and Smith streets, and con- 
tinued there until that building was destroyed by fire one Sat- 
urday noon in 1846, presumably from sparks from the black- 
smith shop of the adjoining Oldham Machine Works, which 
occupied most of the block bounded by Market, Union, Smith 
and Hotel streets. Much difficulty was experienced in secur- 
ing suitable accommodations now, and the school was dis- 
missed for some weeks in consequence, and then moved tempo- 
rarily into the Cross street M. E. church, nearly 200 children 
being crowded into two small rooms. After three or four 
months, the Piincipal, Mr. Samuel B. Brands, rented to the 
Committee a school-room under his dwelling. This was a 
small two-story frame building in the rear of what is now No. 
90 Ellison street (Mr. Joseph Barned's premises). It belonged 
to the estate of Dr. William Ellison, and had been a school- 
house for twelve or fifteen years, at least.* 

Notwithstanding the repeated enactments looking toward 
making the public schools entirely free, and really popular, 
there was always a conservative, retarding tendency, as a con- 
cession to which the rule was established that but one child 
from a family should be allowed free schooling. Forty years 
ago, the children were required to have a permit from the 
School Trustees before they could receive free instruction. 
This rule obtained generally until the organization of the city 
schools. After a while it became customary for the teacher to 



*About 1832-3, Thomas Briggs taught a private school in this building ; then 
Adam Dookson ; some time after, Justice Charles Inglis, Sen., who sold the "good 
will "of the school in 1845 to Mr. Samuel B. Brands, who lived upstairs and kept a 
private school down stairs for a year and a half, until at the request of the present 
Pr. Charles Inglis he took charge of the public school in the " Academy." 



OF SCHOOLS IN PA TEESON. 39 

receive additional children from one family, charging a tuition 
fee for them. From 1S48 to 1852, one dollar per quarter was 
the charge for all children of a family after the first. The pu- 
pils were always expected to furnish their own books and sta- 
tionery, unless too poor to do so. 

Township School Teachers. 

John D. Keily was the Principal, 1835-7. ^ e was an Irish- 
mail, educated in France for a priest, but he joined the Metho- 
dist Church in Paterson and then became a public school 
teacher. He had about one hundred children in his charge, 
and was a good preceptor and disciplinarian. While in Pater- 
son he was a fierce abolitionist *, but afterwards removed to 
Virginia, and there became quite as earnest a champion of 
slavery. 

Miss Mary Wylie had charge of the infant class of the public 
school while at the Cross street church, having as many as six- 
ty or eighty little folks under her care, generally. She was so 
successful that a separate primary school was established there, 
which she managed to the satisfaction of the successive School 
Committees for nearly twenty years. 

Joseph Perry came to Paterson in the Summer of J 838"^, and 
was employed as teacher of the w ' Free School " in 1S39. He 
continued the occupation in a public or private capacity, in 
the basement of the old Baptist Church in Broadway, and af- 
terwards in the "Academy," until 1S46, when he left Paterson, 
entering the Baptist ministry. For the past ten years he has 
been pastor of the Seamen's Bethel at Philadelphia. He was 
lax in discipline, but won the respect and esteem of his pupils. 

Sampson W. Buffum was the next Principal. He was from 
New Hampshire (where we believe he still lives, an honored 

* He explained his love for the African by saying that while bathing in France he 
was attacked by a marine monster— possibly Victor Hugo's devil-fish— and his life 
wis saved by a negro who came to his rescue at the risk of his own life. 

t He joined the Baptist Church, on certificate, in July of that year. 



40 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

citizen), and was possessed of an energy and zeal which 
brooked no opposition. His outspoken denunciations of sla 
very aroused a bitter public sentiment against him that greatly 
impaired his usefulness. He was prominent, too, in organizing 
the " Free Church " (in which progressives of various sorts 
were foremost), that met in the "New Market" in Cross 
street, west side, between Ellison and Passaic, and took part 
in the anti-slavery meetings at the same place that were ulti- 
mately stopped by a dangerous riot. Buffum was loved by his 
associates, and hated by his opponents. He was a very strict 
disciplinarian — excessively so, beyond doubt, but there is much 
reason to believe that his punishments of pupils were exagger- 
ated by those who were politically opposed to him. However, 
he was actually indicted for cruelty to a scholar, tried in open 
court, convicted and heavily fined. Among the charges against 
him, it was said that he tied a boy up by the thumbs while he 
flogged him, and that he fastened another to a door by an awl 
thrust through his ear ! 

Isaac Hamilton, son of William B., was another public 
school teacher, and not long after L. D. Williams presided, in 
the " Academy," giving place in 1846 to Samuel B. Brands. 
Mr. B. conducted the school there for about six months, until 
the building was burned down (there were 112 pupils enrolled 
at the time,) and then for three months in the Cross street 
church, and then for five or six months in his residence in El- 
lison street, as previously mentioned. His health failing he 
gave up for a while, and his father, David I. Brands,* conduct- 
ed the public school for about half a year, until the Spring of 
184S. 

His successor was Sherburne R. Merrill, formerly from 

*David I. Brands came to Paterson from Warren county in the Spring of 1S32, and 
for fifteen or twenty } ears spen his time alternately in farming or in trade, and in 
teaching. He was the first of three generations of teachers, and at the present time 
two of his sons— Samuel B. and Orestes M. — and a grandson — Alexander M.— are 
Principals of public schools in Paterson. We doubt if a parallel case can be cited. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 41 

Deerfield, Mass. — a young man with his head full of New Eng- 
land ideas of what a public school ought to be. Being ap- 
pointed to the Ellison street school he set about reorganizing 
it, and meanwhile set on foot a project for securing better ac- 
commodations. In company with Mr. James Stiles he bought 
a lot on the opposite side of the street (where the " Arcade " 
now is), whereon stood a small dwelling, paying $i,Soo for 
the property. Then, mainly through the generosity of Mr. 
Nicholas Kip, lumber dealer at Passaic, and Mr. Andrew Der- 
rom, carpenter, they put up in the rear of the dwelling (which 
was rented to other parties) a two-story schoolhouse, 30x40 
feet in size, at a cost of about $800, and in September, 1S48, 
the public school was transferred thither, occupying the upper 
floor, while Mr. James Stiles conducted a private school on the 
first floor. Mr. Merrill had as many as two hundred children 
under his care in one room, 30x40 feet in size ! He was al- 
lowed an assistant teacher, and was aided not a little by the 
older pupils, who acted as monitors and were often given 
classes to teach. Among those who thus began a career of 
pedagogism was the present City School Superintendent, Mr. 
William J. Rogers.* Mr. Merrill designed a combined desk 
and seat — a vast improvement over the furniture then in vogue, 
and embodying substantially the same principle now universal- 
ly adopted by manufacturers of school desks and seats. He 
also introduced a thorough system of registration — quite an 
advance upon anything previously in use hereabouts. In 
1S48-9, he had a class of young mechanics who were so anxious 
to improve that they gathered in his school-room every morn- 
ing at six d clock to study industrial drawing, mechanics, alge- 
bra and surveying, and they kept this up all Winter, too. We 

*Once when Mr. Rogers was but. fifteen, Mr. Merrill took a trip West, leaving Mr. 
R. in charge of the school, and he was warmly complimented on his successful man- 
agement. 

• O 



42 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

hardly know which most to admire — the zeal of the pupils, or 
the self-denying patience of the teacher. 

Largely through Mr. Merrill's efforts, too, the "Paterson Ly- 
ceum " was organized in 1S48 and continued for about three 
years, meeting in the school room. The weekly exercises 
(public after the first year) were participated in by ladies as 
well as gentlemen, and were enjoyed by crowded audiences. 

When the State appropriation ran out in 1850, the school 
was continued as a private enterprise by Mr. Merrill until the 
ensuing Spring. 

Paterson City Schools. 

In 1850, Paterson (south of the Passaic river) had a popula- 
tion of 11,341 inhabitants, and the simple township system of 
government was found to be inadequate for an effective admin- 
istration of the town's multifarious interests, particularly the 
educational department and the prosecution of street improve- 
ments. The failure of the annual town meetings in 1850 to 
vote any appropriations whatever resulted in a strong move- 
ment for incorporation as a city, which succeeded in March, 
1 85 1. The city was divided into three wards — -East (now 3d 
and 4th), West (now 6th) and South (now 5th, 7th and 8th) — 
with two School Committeemen elected from each, having the 
same powers as like township officers. A more liberal appro- 
priation was also made, and the whole of Messrs. Merrill and 
Stiles's building was hired for school purposes, Mr. Merrill 
continuing in charge, up stairs, while his brother Samuel C. 
taught on the lower floor. The first public evening school 
was opened there during the Winter of 1851-2, and was well 
attended. In October, 1852, Mr. Sherburne Merrill, who all 
the while — in addition to teaching school eight or ten hours a 
day — had been studying medicine with Dr. A. W. Rogers, 
went to Philadelphia to attend medical lectures, and when he 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 43 



returned to Paterson he was Doctor Merrill, and is to-day one 
of our most popular and successful practitioners. He was 
succeeded in the school by the Rev. William E. Westervelt, 
who taught until April, 1853. Mr. S. C. Merrill continued in 
charge of his own department for some time longer. 

Meanwhile, the School Committee of the East Ward had 
hired Mr. Jacob Goetschius's schoolhouse, in Division street, 
north side, just east of Washington, where the Swedenborgian 
church now stands. The South Ward School Committee hired 
the First Presbyterian Sunday school building in Elm street, 
where the First German Presbyterian church was afterwards 
located. 

Steps Toward Organization. 
By a supplement to the city charter, approved March 9, 1854, 
it was provided that three School Committeemen should be 
elected in each Ward, who should constitute bodies politic and 
corporate in and for their several Wards, with power to buy 
land and erect schoolhouses, subject to the approval of the 
City Council, the latter body being authorized to appoint a 
School Superintendent. This legislation was the result of an 
advanced public sentiment, which was awakening to the im- 
portance and necessity of better school accommodations in the 
growing city. In this Spring, also, the North Ward (now 
First and Second Wards) was added to the city. Among the 
new Committeemen were some energetic friends of education, 
who were disposed to make the most of the new powers con- 
ferred on them. The East Ward Committee secured the ser- 
vices of Samuel C. Hosford, who was then teaching in 
Connecticut, and he came on and took charge of the school in 
Division street,* that same season, and being recognized as a 
man of superior ability he was encouraged to devise a uniform 

*A primary school, subsidiary to that in Division street, was held at this time in 
the Broadway Baptist church. 



44 STSfORtOAL SKETCH 

system of school management for the whole city. So far as 
this particular work was concerned, however, Andrew Derrom 
seems to have taken the initiative. Having been elected School 
Superintendent, he immediately called a meeting of ail the 
Ward School Committeemen, who assembled in the City 
Council chamber on Saturday evening, April 15, 1S54.* They 
organized as the "Joint Committee," and adopted by-laws, call- 
ing for quarterly meetings. Dr. Charles Inglis, jr., Cornelius 
T. Vandervoort, Robert Miller and Isaac D. Blauvelt, from the 
South, East, West and North Wards, respectively, were ap- 
pointed a committee to draft school regulations, and reported a 
series of nineteen rules on May 22, which were adopted, and 
form the basis of the ninety-two regulations now in force. 
The original report was mainly the work of Dr. Inglis. There 
were to be four terms in the school year, beginning May 1, 
September 1, November 1, and February 1 ; vacation only in 
August, and between Christmas and New Year's ; holidays on 
New Year's, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. f 
A course of study was prescribed, and a series of text-books 
adopted, the latter to be furnished by Paterson dealers. In 
July a Normal School was suggested. In January, 1S55, a 
" delinquent class " was authorized. (Three years later it was 
resolved to organize a " delinquent school," but it does not ap- 
pear to have been done.) 

*The City Council Chamber was used in common by the Aldermen and the School 
Committeemen until June, 1858, when the Aldermen proposed to charge the latter $100 
a year rent. For a month the School Committeemen then met in the office of Socrates 
Tuttle, which h-s generously placed at their disposal. Then they fitted up a room for 
their accommodation in the East Ward school, where their sessions were held until 
1860. They next moved into the West Ward school, and remained there until 
April, 1871, when the present room in the new City Hall was placed at their disposal 
by the Board of Aldermen. Seven years ago, the subject was mooted of erecting a 
separate building for High School, Boar 1 of Education and public library. The same 
idea has lately been revived. 

tThe Board has repeatedly, as in 1854, tried to do away with holidays on Easter 
Monday and Whit Monday, but the old Dutch sentiment in favor of " Paas " and 
" Pinkster " has been too much for them, and those holidays have been always kept 
by the pupils, whether the Board authorized them or not, as it generally has. It is 
only since 1869 that July has been added to the Summer vacation, 



OP SCHOOLS 'L& PATPRSOtf. 45 

In March, i S55, the Legislature passed a supplement to the 
city charter, in which were some important changes relative 
to the schools, drafted by John Hopper and Dr. Inglis. The 
several Ward Committees were authorized to issue $6,ooo ot 
bonds each, and to provide schoolhouses in their several Wards. 
It was also enacted, that the several Ward boards of School 
Committeemen should together constitute a City Board of Ed- 
ucation. Mr. Derrom was reappointed Superintendent by the 
City Council. 

Increasing the School Accommodations. 

Meantime steps had been taken to acquire school property 
and to provide increased educational facilities. 

May 23, 1854, the West Ward Committee bought of Messrs. 
Merrill and Stiles their property in Ellison street, for $2,900, 
and with considerable modifications from time to time it contin- 
ued in use for eighteen years. 

August 1, 1S54, the East Ward School Committee, mainly 
through the efforts of William Swinburne (now City Comp- 
troller), took action and bought of Jane Van Saun a plot on 
East Van Houten street, 75x97 feet, for $1,500, whereon they 
proceeded to erect a three-story brick building, now known as 
School No. 1.* The structure was formally dedicated on 
Monday, September 3, 1855, all the school children in the city 
turning out in procession, with gay banners and streamers. 
Exercises were held on the Island, also, consisting of singing, 
and addresses by the Rev. James M. Freeman and others. In- 
deed, it was a gala-day in the town. 

* An historic interest attaches to the bell on this schoolhouse. It was originally 
swung aloft on a tall post at the corner of Main and Market streets, about 1S32, to 
ring out notice to the people of the departure of the cars for New York. The cars 
were at first drawn all the way by horses, and the track extended down Main street 
to the corner mentioned, from the depot, which until 1830 stood at the corner of Main 
and Grand streets. When this extension was discontinued the bell was placed on the 
depot, and there remained until September, 1S55, when it was bought for the new 
school. 



46 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

The South Ward School Committee bought of the S. U. M., 
September 30, 1854, three lots on Main street, being 75 feet 
front and from 111 ft. 8 in. to 107 ft. 7 in. deep, for $1,200; 
May 31, 1S55, a lot adjoining was also purchased, for $450. 
It was decided to build at once, and contracts were given out, 
but the action was reconsidered, a change in location was agi- 
tated (the corner of Jersey and Slater streets being favored by 
many), and it was not till July 21, 1856, that the final contracts 
were made : Cornelius G. Garrison being given the carpenter 
work, for $3,090, and the furnishing for $1,012; Wm. 
Ackerman the masonry, for $4,645. The school (now 
known as No. 3) actually cost about $10,000. It was 
dedicated June 15, 1857, Daniel Barkalow delivering the 
address. Before its completion the South Ward school 
was held in the First Presbyterian Sunday school in 
Elm street (where the German Presbyterian Church now 
stands), and a primary school was held in the Wesleyan chap- 
el, in Marshall street near Clay, Miss W'ylie teacher. Both 
these schools were transferred to the new building. 

Some of the schools on the north or Manchester side of the 
river have been mentioned. The school accommodations there 
were of about the same character as those in Paterson town- 
ship. Some public-spirited citizens organized two " societies 
" for the promotion of learning," under the general law, one 
being the " Manchester Literary Association," and the other 
the " Manchester Academy," and after various efforts to fur- 
ther the cause of education the former bought of John R. 
Berdan, February 29, 1S4S, for $200, a plot of land on Clinton 
street, west side, " 594 feet northwesterly from High street," 
whereon they erected a two-story frame schoolhouse *, which 

* It is said that this remote location was chosen, because a prominent citizen on 
North Main street — one of the School Committee, it is asserted— was strongly opposed 
to public schools, believing they would ruin the country, and so he insisted on having 
this schoolhouse built as far as possible from his residence ! In 1852 S. B. Brands 
taught 40 children downstairs, and Miss C. G. Tuttle 35 upstairs. Jonathan Irish, a 
brother of the gallant Captain Hugh C. Irish, preceded Mr. Brands in this school. 



OF SCHOOLS IJY PATER SON. 47 

was occupied as a public school for twenty-five years there- 
after. The society's principal object perhaps was attained 
when proper accommodatious had been provided for the 
school. — The "Manchester Academy" on September 13, 1S49, 
bought of Samuel Graham, for $200, a lot "on the northwesterly 
" side of Division (now Northwest) street," fifty feet from Mat- 
lock street, and being 30x100 feet, and this site was occupied 
for a public school until 1857. In the Summer of i860 the 
property was sold for $400. This institution was long known 
as the " Staggtown school." When part of Manchester was 
annexed in 1854 to Paterson, as the North ward, the School 
Committee of that Ward seems to have acquired possession of, 
if not title to, both the school properties mentioned. In June, 
1S56, the Board of Education bought a plot, iooxiooft, at the 
northeast corner of Temple and Matlock streets, and in the 
following month awarded contracts : for the carpenter work to 
Andrew Derrom, $2,880 ; the furnishing to the same, $1,068 ; 
the masonry to William Titus, $3,800. The structure was 
completed in seven months, at a cost of about $9,000, and dedi- 
cated with appropriate exercises February 9, 1857. The two 
other schools in the Ward were then closed. 

In this connection it may be added, that in accordance with 
the provisions of a supplement to the city charter, in 1856, the 
several School Committees in March of that year transferred 
all the real school property they had acquired* to the Mayor 
and Aldermen, in whom the title of such real estate has ever 
since been vested. The Mayor and Aldermen were also au- 
thorized to issue not exceeding $50,000 of school bonds, to re- 
deem those issued by the Ward Committees, and to complete 
the improvements already begun. 

These measures of course caused a great increase in the ed- 

*May 27, 1856, the " Manchester Academy " also made a conveyance to the Mayor 
a.nd Aldermen of the "Staggtown" school property, probably to confirm the title pre- 
viously transferred by the North Ward School Committee. 



48 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

ucational expenditures of the city. While the schools cost but 
$1,664 in 1S51, $2,960 in 1852, and $1,540 in 1S53, the outlay- 
rose to $8,047 m J S54i and $13,165 in 1855 ; in 1856 $23,700 
was spent in building, $2,095 for school Iocs, and $12,284 f° r 
current expenses, and in 1857 * ne permanent improvements 
cost $8,203, an d the current expenses $11,588. 

A System of Schools Established. 
Each Ward having at least one school, as before remarked 
steps were taken in 1854 towards organizing a system of grad- 
ing and managing them, and something was done in that direc- 
tion. The new law of 1S55 conferring the needed power, on 
May 8 the Board resolved to consolidate and organize the 
schools under one system. In July it was decided that the 
East Ward school should be the Grammar School for the 
whole city, all the others to be Primary. Mr. Hosford was 
appointed Principal, at a salary of $900 ; Miss Tanner, Vice 
Principal of the female department, at $350, and Miss Eliza Stitt 
of the primary department, at $300. Miss Mary Stitt was 
Principal of No. 2, in Ellison street, at $300 ; Miss Elizabeth 
Cox of No. 3, in Elm street, at $275 ; Miss Mary Wiley of 
No. 4, in Marshall street, at $250 ; Miss Charlotte Donkersley 
of Intermediate No. 1, in Elm street, at $285: Miss C. G. 
Tuttle of No. 5, in Clinton street, at $300 ; Miss Ford of No. 
6, probably in the same building, $250 ; Miss E. R. Geroe of 
No. 7, in Northwest street, at $200 ; Miss Eliza M. Halsted of 
the Colored school, at $350. In all, there were twenty-six 
teachers, their salaries ranging as low as $75- Male teachers 
were dispensed with. Among them was Charles O. Hurlbut, 
from the Spring of 1854 Principal of the South Ward school 
in Elm street. From Paterson he went to the State Normal 
school, and subsequently located in New York city, where he 
is now a very successful teacher of elocution.* 

*Prof. Hurlbut gave a series of lectures on elocution before the Paterson Normal 
School in 1ST3. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATER SON. 49 

At this time, and for some years after, there were male and 
female departments in the larger schools, but for a long while 
past there has been " no distinction on account of sex" in mak- 
ing up the schools and classes, and the present plan works so 
satisfactorily that it is likely to be permanent. 

When the Main street schoolhouse was occupied, a Gram- 
mar department was established there, Miss Cox being Prin- 
cipal, with brief interregna, until 1S65, when Alfred H. Deck- 
er was appointed, who was followed by Samuel B. Brands. 
The Temple street school was first in charge of Miss Osborn, 
with, Miss Ford as assistant; Peter A. Youngblood (1861) and 
Orestes M. Brands were the successive male Principals. 

Male assistants were soon employed in the male department 
of the East Ward Grammar school. C. M. Harrison was the 
first; then Robert De Hart, who being transferred to the 
charge of the South Ward school * was succeeded by C. M. 
Myers, and later by Edward S. Ellis, now Superintendent of 
the Trenton public schools. 

Normal and High Schools. 

In July, 1S54, the subject of organizing a Normal school was 
broached in the "Joint Committee," but no formal action was 
taken. Soon after, Mr. Hosford began to convene the teach- 
ers in an informal way in the West Ward schoolhouse, 
for conference, counsel and instruction. These conferences 
developed into a Normal School, which was formally au- 
thorized by the Board in April, 1S55, and regularly opened in 
the new East Ward school in the ensuing Fall. The sessions 
were held on Wednesday evenings, then on Tuesday and 
Thursday evenings, and afterwards on Saturday mornings. In 

* His transfer was hastened by the indignation he excited by an unusually severe 
chastisement he administered to two boys in the East Ward school. The parents de- 
manded redress, but the two boys aforesaid were impatient, and lying in wait for 
their teacher one night gave him au unmerciful thrashing. 

P 



50 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

February, 1857, f° ur classes were formed, with Mr. Hosford, 
Mr. De Hart, Mrs. Van Quenaudon (soon succeeded by Miss 
Donkersley) and Miss Stitt as teachers; in January, 1858, the 
classes were reduced to two, "on account of the expense." Not 
withstanding the direst penalties were ordered by the Board — 
such as one dollar fine for each absence, and even dismissal — 
the school was not a success, and in i860 it was proposed to 
abolish it, and organize a Teachers' Association for mutual 
impi-ovement in their profession. But the Board was reluctant 
to confess the school a failure, and resolved to reorganize it in 
three classes, with Messrs. Hosford and Myers and Miss Donk- 
ersley as teachers. The course of study was not changed, 
however, and the Normal School, instead of aiming to teach 
how to teach, continued to be in fact an elementary school for 
teaching the rudimentary branches. It is not strange, therefore, 
that it ultimately died quietly. 

Ln September, i860, the High School was organized, all 
the more advanced pupils in the Grammar schools (No. 1 and 
No. 3) being taken to form the new school. Chemistry, bot- 
any, geology and astronomy were added to the course of 
stud} 7 . 

At this time it was also decided that male and female pupils 
of the same grade should recite in the same classes. 

Soon after, a Senior school 'was organized at No. 1, and all 
the other schools were organized with Junior and Primary de- 
partments. 

This system continued substantially unchanged until 1S6S. 

Colored School. 

In January, 185^, a colored school was established, Miss 
Eliza M. Halsted being the first Principal — a position she re 
tained for neaily twenty years, or until the school was dis- 
banded. The sessions were held for a few months in the God- 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 51 

win street (colored) M. E. Church ; then in the Goetschius 
schoolhouse in Division street, when the East Ward school va- 
cated those premises. In September, 1857, ^ was amoved to 
the Clinton street schoolhouse. The location was so remote 
as to create much complaint from the parents of the children, 
and with good reason. At length, in 1873, the Board of Edu- 
cation bought for $4,000, four lots in Godwin street, south side, 
between Washington and Bridge, for a new edifice. But 
December 27,1872, the Board had voted that the colored children 
could attend the schools in their respective districts, and all 
but five or six availed themselves of the privilege, and as the 
plan seemed to work well a separate school for them was no 
longer necessary, and on May 30, 1S73, the Colored school was 
ordered disbanded and the Godwin street propeity sold.* Miss 
Halsted had eight)' or ninety pupils on the roll most of the time, 
the average attendance being about fifty. The school did a good 
work in its way, and none the less so that it was done with a 
patient unobtrusiveness and self-denial that commended its 
teacher to the favor of every friend of education. 

Object Teaching. 

In October, 1861, the Board of Education appointed Dr. 
Ezra S. McClellan, a member, a committee of one to visit 
Oswego, N. Y., and inspect the system of object teaching 
there in operation. On his favorable report, the system was 
introduced in the primary department of School No. 1. In 
March, 1862, a Miss Parsons was brought on from Oswego 
and employed as a special teacher of a Model Training 
School, which was opened in the basement of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church, whither the primary department of School 
No. 1 was transferred. The younger teachers were required 

*The Clinton street property was offered for sale, but has not been disposed of 
yei 



'62 mSTOSIGAL SKETCH 

to spend an hour at this place every afternoon, to acquire a 
knowledge of the theory and practice of object teaching, that 
they might be able to use it in their classes. The school 
proved to be very expensive, the results were not all that were 
anticipated, and the teacher being arrested for punishing a pu- 
pil unduly was compelled to resign, and after less than a year's 
trial the experiment was discontinued. 

Miscellaneous Notes. 

The laws relating to the school management underwent some 
change almost annually. In 1856 the Board of Education was 
given the power of electing the Superintendent, and he was to 
preside over that body. A member was elected Secretary, and 
another acted as Financial Secretary. Andrew Derrom was 
elected Superintendent in 1S56-7 ; in 1S58-9-60, Cornelius 
S. Van Wagoner was chosen; in 1861 , William Swinburne. 
In 1862, for the first time, a member of the Board was elected 
to the position — Dr. Ezra S. McClellan. The Legislature of 
1S63 provided that the Board should elect one ol its members 
to be President, and another person to be Secretary and Super- 
intendent. Dr. McClellan was a candidate for the latter office, 
and for six months the Board was unable to agree on the sub- 
ject, and then elected Mr. Hosford for the rest of the year. In 
1864-5-6-7-8 Wm. Swinburne filled the office. 

The relations between the Board of Education and the Board 
of Aldermen have generally been harmonious, if not exactly 
cordial, but as the powers of the former were enlarged the lat- 
ter seemed to resent each additional step in that direction as a 
trespass upon their own prerogatives. In 1S59 tne Board of 
Aldermen failed to make the school appropriation, as required 
by law, until two months after the time prescribed, and then 
cut it down below the Board of Education's estimates, having 
assumed that the latter were based on erroneous returns of at- 



OP SCHOOLS IN PATW&SON. 53 

tendance on the schools. The School Commissioners ap- 
pointed a committee (C. E. Van Beuren, Ezra Osborn, I. D. 
Blauvelt, Robert Bailing, S. Maconachy) to consider the mat- 
ter, who on September ist presented an elaborate report, re- 
viewing the whole subject, and remarking (and their conclus- 
ions were based on a law which is substantially the same to- 
day) : 

" There is no discretionary power given the Mayor and Al- 
" dermen. They may not ask, 'Will not a less sum answer ?' 
" They cannot even inquire into the correctness of the Report. 
'• The law says they must appropriate according to the number 
" reported by the Board of Education. The responsibility for 
'■" the correctness of the Report is placed upon the Board of 
" Education, and to the people alone from whom their powers 
"emanate, this Board is responsible for the conscientious dis 
"charge of this as well as the other duties which they under- 
'•' take to perform." 

The same issue has been raised during the present year. 

In 1S61 the City Council again neglected to vote the required 
appropriation, cutting it down $3,000. The Board of Educa- 
tion decided to close the schools, and the Aldermen then placed 
to their credit the sum which had been withheld. It was to 
prevent any similar misunderstanding that it was provided in 
the charter of 1S71 that the sum estimated by the Board of 
Education should " thereby become appropriated," thus reliev- 
ing the Aldermen of all responsibility in the matter, and placing 
the onus on the School Commissioners. 

The seal of the Board of Education was prepared by Super- 
intendent Van Wagoner, and adopted September 1, 1S59. 

For ten or twelve years after the organization of the schools, 
it was customary to appoint the teachers and fix their salaries 
yearly. For some years they held their positions indefinitely. 
Within the past six or eight years they have been required to 



54 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

submit to periodical examinations for renewal of certificates, 
their positions depending on their passing such examinations 
satisfactorily. 

Until 1869, proposals were solicited annually for Janitors of 
the schools, who then entered into contract with the Board for 
the faithful performance of their duties, which included keeping 
the schools thoroughly clean and, at first, in repair. Since 
1869 the Janitors have held office during good behavior. 

October 24, 1S59, the ma i n doors of the schoolhouses were 
ordered to be so altered that they would open outward. 

In 1S60 the number of School Commissioners was reduced 
to two from each Ward, one to be elected every two years. 

The State Teachers' Association met in Paterson in Decern 
ber, i860, in the First Presb}terian church lecture room, and 
at Continental Hall. 

On Monday, June 3, 1861, the "Sandy Hill" school was 
opened, in the Baptist chapel — a long low frame building then 
standing on Straight street, between Market and Willis, and 
now located on the north side of Willis street, between the 
Erie Railway and Straight street. There were 140 children in 
attendance when it opened, and within three days the number 
swelled to 215. Miss Susan H. Rathburn was the first Princi- 
pal, succeeded in June, 1862, by Miss Jennie Andrews. In 
March, 1S69, the building changed hands, and the school was 
removed (pending the completion of No. 6) to an old building 
in Dickerson street, previously used as an orphan asylum. 

Twenty years ago special teachers wei - e employed to instruct 
the pupils in writing. Music teachers were also engaged oc- 
casionally, and so long ago as iSj4 the instruction of drawing 
was proposed. 

A striking reminder of the war-times is found in a resolution 
of the Board, September 4, 1862, authorizing "all the schools 
u to pick lint on Friday afternoons." 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 



A special census taken in 1854 showed that the population 
of the city was 17,941, and that there were 4,968 persons from 
5 to 17 years of age (inclusive), of whom 869 attended free, 
and 1,459 attended private schools. The effect of the increased 
school accommodations provided during the ensuing two or 
three years is shown by the fact that in December, 1S55, 3 '473 
persons were attending the public day and night schools, and 
that 3,670 pupils were enrolled during the year 1S56, the aver- 
age attendance being 2,048, with 45 teachers. 

The census of 1S65 showed that Paterson had 24.893 inhab- 
itants, an increase of fifty per cent, in ten years, and yet the 
Board of Education had been unable to provide for the greatly 
increased number of school children, owing to a lack of co-op- 
eration on the part of the Board of Aldermen. After repeated 
urging, however, and the offer from James Crooks of the gift 
of a site for a schoolhouse, and the taking of a special school 
census of Totowa, the Aldermen consented in 1S66 to permit 
the Board of Education to erect a two-story frame building, 
40x50 ft., on the proffered site — a plot of six lots, on Sherman 
avenue. Superintendent Swinburne prepared the plans and 
specifications, and supervised the construction. The new 
schoolhouse — now known as No. 5 — was completed during the 
ensuing Winter, and opened in May, 1S67, with Orestes M. 
Brands as Principal, who being shortly transferred to No. 4, 
was succeeded by his brother, Samuel B. Brands. 

Reorganization of the School System. 

In the Spring of 1868, by the creation of three new Wards 

the number of School Commissioners was inci eased from ten 

to sixteen, and this infusion of new life led the Board on April 

20 to appoint a committee (William Nelson, Charles Inglis* 

*It was a curious coin idence that Dr. Iuglis, who had mainly drafted the first 
School Regulations, should be appointed on this Committee to evije and adapt them 
to the wants of the greatly extended system. It was a fitting recognition, too, of his 
thorough familiarity with the schools and their needs, from many years' experience. 



56 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

and James M. Baldwin) to revise the Board's by-laws and the 
School Regulations, which revision was finally approved by 
the Board Tuly l 9- By these Regulations the schools were 
classified in three grades — High, Grammar and Primary — and 
the course of study was partially revised. In 1869 the same 
gentlemen were appointed a committee to again revise the 
Regulations, and their report was adopted November 16. A 
very carefully-elaborated course of study was prescribed for all 
the schools at this time. These Regulations remain substan- 
tially unchanged to this date The Normal school was revived, 
and with the High school was placed under the supervision of 
a committee appointed for the purpose, the effect being to stim- 
ulate a new interest in both. A system of grading teachers 
was also introduced, and a schedule of salaries for the various 
positions was for the first time adopted, the rates being raised 
materially. 

As part of the history of this time it may be mentioned here 
that Samuel C. Hosford, after fifteen years' service as Principal 
of the " East Ward school," resigned March 31, 1869, to enter 
a manufacturing business. His successor in the High school 
was Samuel W. Rice, a highly successful and popular teacher,* 
who resigned June 7> l ^7°-> being succeeded by Andrew 
Mclntyre ; the latter was removed, and in September, 1873, 
Wm. B. Ridenour was appointed to the vacancy. 

In May, 1S71, Mr. Hosford was appointed School Superin- 
tendent for three years, but resigned in September, 1873, to 
give way to John Laird, who resigned in September, 1874. 
His successor was William J. Rogers. 

The schools in 1S69 were so overcrowded, especially in the 
lowest grades, that new accommodations were imperatively 
needed. A mission chapel of the Congregationalists, on Stony 

* Mr. Rice has ever since been located at Passaic, where he is Principal of the 
main school and City Superintendent. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERS ON. 57 

Road, large enough to seat 70 or So children, was rented hy the 
Board and opened as a public school (No. 7) in September, 
1868, being at once half filled. In April, 1869, another school 
(No. 10) was opened in a mission chapel at Weavertown, and 
upwards of 100 pupils were immediately enrolled. 

Increased Powers of the Board. 

Much of the expansion of the school system just mentioned, 
besides more important measures to be dwelt upon hereafter, 
had been rendered possible only by material changes in the 
law relating to the Paterson educational department. The gen- 
eral revision of the city charter being under consideration by 
the Board of Aldermen, the School Commissioners on Novem- 
ber 30, 1S68, appointed William Nelson, James M. Baldwin 
and Elias A. Vreeland, together with the President (Henry L. 
Butler) and the Secretary (Wm. Swinburne) ex officio, a com- 
mittee to revise that Title of the charter relating to the Board 
of Education, and through the cordial and effective co-opera- 
tion of Senator John Hopper the work of the committee was 
incorporated in the new charter of 1869. The sections in this 
Title were re-arranged and the powers and duties of the Board 
more clearly defined. The annual appropriation had been fixed 
by the act of 1856 at not less than $7 nor more than $10 per 
capita on the average attendance reported by the Board ; it 
was now required to be not less than $12 nor more than $15. 
The Board, was given all the necessary power to acquire 
real estate and to build, alter or repair schoolhouses, without 
the approval of the Board of Aldermen, as formerly, the latter 
Board being required to appropriate the money necessary, to 
facilitate which they were authorized to issue bonds. The 
School Commissioners were also empowered to separate the 
offices ol Secretary and Superintendent, hitherto vested in one 
person, and to fix the salaries, the compensation having been 
Q 



58 HISTOBICAL SKETCH 

previously restricted to $600. Mr. Swinburne was continued 
in the two offices for another year, when Samuel Thorp was 
elected Secretary, holding the position for about a year, when 
he resigned ; Peter A. Youngblood filled the place temporarily, 
and was succeeded by Vernon Royle in the Spring of 1872. 
Mr. Swinburne remained Superintendent until May, 1871- 

New Schoolhouses Provided. 
The Board promptly set about exercising to the best advan- 
tage the large powers with which it had been entrusted by the 
charter of 1869. A special committee (James M. Baldwin, 
Charles Keeler and Henry L. Butler, Charles Inglis and Wm, 
Nelson being afterwards added) was appointed September 10, 
1868, who on May 27, 1869, reported two sites for a new 
schoolhouse in the Fourth Ward — one on Willis, William and 
Mechanic streets, and one on the northwest corner of Summer 
and Ellison streets. The Board decided, June 3, to buy the 
latter — five lots, for $6,500. The committee spent a great deal 
of time, thought and study on the plans, which were finally 
prepared under their general direction by E. J. M. Derrick, 
architect, and adopted by the Board September 21, 1869. On 
October 23 the contracts for the masonry and carpenter work 
were awarded to John P. Post & Sons, for $40,845. Messrs. 
Heber Wells, Henry Shurman and John I. Corcoran were then 
added to the committee. — The structure complete, furnished 
and fenced, cost a little less than $60,000. Its extreme dimen- 
sions are 90x95 ft. ; three stories high, the fronts of Philadel- 
phia pressed brick, trimmed with light yellow stone. It was 
almost the first building in Paterson of any architectural pre- 
tensions, and was regarded at the time as one of the handsomest, 
most substantial and best-arranged schoolhouses in New Jersey. 
It is safe co say that School No. 6 has few superiors in the 
State yet. It was opened informally in February, 1871, Wil- 



OF 8GS00L8 IN PATERSON. 59 

Ham J. Rogers being Principal, who remained in charge but a 
few weeks, when the High school was transferred from School 
No. i to the new building, the Principal of that school — An- 
drew Mclntyre — exchanging buildings with Mr. Rogers. 

The condition of the schoolhouse in Ellison street had been 
very poor for many years, and on November 25, 1869, the com- 
mittee on erection, repairs and furniture recommended the pur- 
chase of a new site. The matter was considered for some 
months, but ultimately, February 25, 1S70, the Board decided 
to abandon the old site, and to buy a plot 87x100 ft. on the 
southeast corner of Mill and Passaic streets, for $7,000. Some 
months later they adopted plans (prepared by Mr. Derrick) 
for a new building, which was erected by John P. Post & Son 
during the ensuing year, at a cost of about $25,000. It was 
opened in the Spring of 1S71, with Miss Sarah J. Perry as Prin- 
cipal. In September, 1873, Mr. Hosford succeeded to the Prin- 
cipalship, holding the position until his death, June 27, 1875. 
The building is a very attractive one, and by many is considered 
the most elegant owned by the Board of Education. The El- 
lison street property was sold soon after, and the buildings re- 
moved to make way for the " Arcade." 

By the annexation of a slice of Acquackanonk township to 
the city in March, 1869, a neat brick schoolhouse, 30x50 ft., 
one story high, erected in 1868, was brought within the city 
limits, and soon transferred to the control of the Board of Edu- 
cation, which opened a school there (now known as No. 7) in 
June, 1869, in charge of William J. Rogers. He being trans- 
ferred to No. 6 in 1870, Alexander W. Brands was appointed 
to the vacancy. 

In 1870, also, as a part of the plans for increasing the school 
facilities, the schoolhouse in Temple street was enlarged by the 
addition of a third story, and was greatly improved in other 
' respects. The Totowa school was also extended. 



60 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

The permanent improvements made in 1S69-70-71 cost about 
$115,000. 

In 1871 anew city charter went into effect, which restricted 
the cost of permanent improvements to $20,000 in any one 
year It was also provided that the annual appropriation for 
current expenses should not " exceed thirteen dollars per schol- 
" ar on the average number reported by the Board of Educa- 
' ; tion as enrolled in the public schools in the preceding year." 
In 1874 the law was so amended as to give the Board of Alder- 
men a quasi authority over the expenditures of the Board of 
Education. 

In the Fall of 1872 four lots were bought on Stony Road, 
whereon the Board proceeded to erect (David Henry being the 
contractor) at a cost of about $15,000, the neat and commod- 
ious three-story brick schoolhouse, 40x60 ft., known as No. 8, 
which was completed and opened in the Spring of 1874, with 
Isaac B. Condit as Principal. 

In the Summer of 1874 the Board set about building a school- 
house at the southwest corner of Getty and Michigan avenues, 
at Lake View, and a very neat brick edifice of two stories and 
a high basement, 40x60 ft., the plans being prepared by Charles 
Urich, was erected (Martin Fitzpatrick, builder) at a cost of 
about $10,000. It was opened in September, 1875, with the 
Rev. A. G. Ryerson as Principal. It is called School No. 9. 

In the Spring of 1875 the Board purchased a plot 150x120 
feet, on Warren street, in the Third Ward, for School No. 10, 
and erected thereon a three-story brick building, 6oxSo ft., 
which was finished in February, 1876, at a cost of about $19,- 
000. It was declared by not a few to be " in all its details and 
" appointments the most commodious and complete school 
" building in the city."* Charles Urich prepared the plans; 
Charles Hatrick was the contractor. Miss Lizzie D. Young 
was appointed Principal. 
* Annual Report for 1875, p. T7. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 61 

All the schoolhouses since No. 6 have been erected under 
the supervision of the respective committees on erection, re- 
pairs and furniture, assisted in 1871-2 by Wm. Swinburne, and 
in 1S73-4-5 by Dr. Charles Inglis, Superintendents of Build- 
ings.* 

The development of the public school system ofPaterson has 
been so fully detailed in the annual reports f of the Board of 
Education of late years that it is needless to dwell at length 
here upon the subject, pleasing as it must be to every friend of 
popular education. A few statistics will present the main 
features at a glance, and will most strikingly exhibit the pro- 
gress of ten years : 

1865. 1870. 1875. 

I. No of schools 6 10 10 

2 Value of school property $33,000 $182,500 $245,313 

3. Seating capacity of schools.... 3,000 4,849t 5,509§ 

4. Scholars enrolled 5,455 6,212 7,540 

5. Average attendance 2,51111 2,612 3,666 

6. No of teachers 46 78 103 

7. Average yearly Falary $308 $423 $502 

8. Total current expenses $22,855 $50,199 $72,841 

9. Expended for permanent im- 

provements $68,334 $19,781 

10. Population of the city 24,893 33,518 38,824 

II. Valuation of the city $8,432,860 $17,961,339 $22,292,000 

* These committees were as follows: 

18T0— Charles Keeler, George Townley, Heber Wells, John T. Dunn, Alexander 
Eae. 

1871— Alfred Stoutenborough, Andrew H. Van Wagoner, Ira King, Thomas Hogg, 
John Clark. 

1872— Andrew H. Van Wagoner, Ira King, John H. Robinson, John Brannin, 
Joseph B, Stewart. 

1873— James M. Baldwin, John T. Probert, John Sommer, William Reid, Aaron 
Clegg. 

1874— Charles H. May, David T. Gillmor, John Sommer, William F. Bertkau, Mari- 
nus Houman. 

1875— David T. Gillmor, Gilbert G. Cooper, John Hinchliffe, Jr., Marinus Houman, 
Isaac Van Houten. 

t Prior to 1869 but four or five Annual Reports of the Board of Education were 
printed in a permanent form. Since that year the Reports have been regularly 
printed in pamphlets, a collection of which presents a very thorough exhibit of the 
work done by the Board, and of the progress and condition of the schools. 

1 1,572 seats at desks. 

§ 3,374 seats at desks. 

|i Prior to 1870 the average attendance reported was greatly exaggerated. 



62 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

In 1865, there were but three good schoolhouses in the city 
— brick structures of the very plainest description. In 1876, 
the city owned ten spacious school edifices, two of them unsur- 
passed in New Jersey, and seven of which would be 
creditable to any city in the State. In 1865, and indeed until 
1869, there were less than a dozen teachers receiving $300 
yearly salary, the pay running down to $150. Now, the mini- 
mum is $375- It is believed the improvement in the efficiency 
of the schools has corresponded with this greater liberality 
shown in their management, and the consequent extension of 
the system. And it is most pleasant to observe that the school- 
tax is the most cheerfully paid of any, by the taxpayers of Pat- 
terson. 

The growth of the public schools of the city is the more re- 
markable, when it is understood that within the past six or 
eight years the Roman Catholic priesthood have been estab- 
lishing parochial schools of a higher order than formerly in 
various parts of the town, and have been gradually prohibiting 
absolutely the attendance of children of their church upon the 
public schools. There are six or eight hundred pupils now at- 
tending these parochial schools, where ten years ago there were 
barely two hundred. 

Private Seminaries. 

It is just thirty years ago since a pamphlet was published 
presenting " Considerations in favor of erecting a good edifice 
for a Scientific and Classical School, in Paterson, N. J." — The 
author was J. Ennis, who had a superior school of that descrip- 
tion in a small wooden building at the northwest corner of 
Church and Ellison streets, previously taught by one McKee, 
and commonly called the " Quality school," children of the 
best families in town attending it. 

In 1S65 George C. Tallman, jr., freshly graduated from Rut- 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATERSON. 63 

gers College, came to Paterson with his wife (formerly 
Miss Mary Stitt, a teacher in this city), and started a class- 
ical and scientific school in the building now known as 
No. 215 Main street, or thereabouts, subsequently removing 
to the present No. 227. Two or three years later he sold 
out to Henry Waters, also from New Brunswick, who 
soon, with the aid of some friends, succeeded in realizing the 
dream of Mr. Ennis, building a handsome and commodious 
three-story frame edifice on the southwest corner of Auburn 
and Van Houten streets, where his flourishing " Paterson Sem 
inary" has a home of its own. 

In the Summer of 1866 the Rev. P. E. Stevenson opened 
the " Passaic Falls Classical Institute" in the First Presbyterian 
lecture room, and after changing about several times within 
two years settled down in the Chapel of the " Independents," 
in Van Houten street, opposite School No. 1. This Institute 
was almost exclusively for young ladies, and at once took a 
very high rank, which it has maintained ever since. Its ven- 
erated founder died in 1S70, but the school was kept up to the 
standard by his widow and his son Eugene. About a year ago 
it passed into other hands and was removed to Church street. 

A few years after disposing of his school to Mr. Waters, Mr. 
Tallman (who had left Paterson) returned to this city and 
started the " Tallman Seminary " at Lake View. He died 
soon after, and Mrs. Tallman removed to York avenue, where 
she has established a very popular school. 

Past, Present and Future. 

In what has gone before the writer has aimed at giving a 
mere outline of the rise and progress of popular education in 
the city of Paterson. A complete history — treating of every 
school and every teacher in detad, describing the gradual 
change ol public sentiment toward free schools, and the phi- 



64 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

losophy of the successive notable events in the educational 
progress of the village, the town and the city — would take 
more time and space than the writer has at his command, and 
would too greatly tax the patience of most readers. But it 
may be said with truth, that whatever advance in culture Pat- 
erson has made in the last half century, she owes in a large de- 
gree to those far seeing men who just fifty years ago met at the 
old " Academy " — may its memory be ever blessed ! — and or- 
ganized the movement that resulted in the first free school in 
Passaic county.* From that little school there has resulted the 
system which has furnished to tens of thousands of men and 
women all the education they have acquired. From that little 
seed has sprung up the giant tree which now shelters four 
thousand school children under its foliage, which imparts far 
more wisdom to the neophyte than did ever the rustling leaves 
of mystic oaks at Dodona. 

Looking back over the past we can thank God and take 
courage. The Free School system seems to be established for 
all time. But in order to be permanent it must keep abreast of 
the times — must meet the popular want. Already there are 
those who doubt if the public schools are all that they should 
be and could be. There is a question as to whether they are 
not too straitly set in certain grooves. There is a desire to 
have less theoretical and a little more practical training in our 
schools, which shall teach boys and girls not merely how to 
read and write and cipher and parse, but which shall put them 
in the way of earning a living by the intelligent use of the fac- 
ulties their Maker has given them. Why should not boys and 
girls be taught something of the art which enters into the de- 
signing of those beautiful patterns in silks, carpets, laces and a 
thousand other articles of use and admiration ? In a manufact- 
uring city like ours, what an inestimable advantage it would 

*See pages 32-3, ante. 



OF SCHOOLS IN PATE RSON. G5 

be could we train our own boys in all the arts that would tend 
to make of them first-class mechanics, draughtsmen, designers, 
and workers in every trade ! Not that all have a bent this way, 
but should not a reasonable opportunity be given for the ad- 
vancement of those who have the natural talent ? And our 
girls : could we not forego a little algebra for the sake of see- 
ing them taught somewhat of the needle's use and how to make 
home comfortable and attractive ? The field of household and 
decorative art, too, is peculiarly fitted for the exercise of the 
feminine fancy with pencil and graver's tool. Moreover, there 
are. those who would like to see a little more attention paid to 
the culture of the immortal souls of those who attend our 
schools ; in short, are almost disposed to say in the words of 
old Desiderius Erasmus, " Teach nothing in the schools but 
" what bears upon life and duty." Genuine culture should in- 
clude somewhat of religious (not necessarily theological or sec- 
tarian) teaching, for the etymology of the word indicates that 
in ancient times mental and religious culture were regarded as 
almost identical. 

But all these matters will be settled by the people in their 
own good time, by putting in control of the schools men who 
will best represent their views, and who will act wisely and 
prudently for the best interests of the whole city. 

Meanwhile, we should never be satisfied with anything short 
of perfection in the schools of Paterson. The progress that 
has been made should but encourage us to think of the possi- 
bilities in the future. The power of that surging tide which 
sweeps through our city driving an hundred mills, and which 
could be made to drive a thousand, is as nothing to the power 
of our educational system, which ought to furnish the motive 
force to ten thousand busy little brains, enabling the owner of 
each to make his mark in the world. As the engineer, observ- 
ing the use to which our water-power is put, is more astonished 
R 



6(5 HISTORICAL SKETCH 

at the force wasted than that utilized, so may the friends of ed- 
ucation won dei that the admirable school system of our city is 
taken advantage of by barely half the children for whom it is 
designed. It is not strange that there should be a disposition 
to coi?zpel the attendance of all children at some school. Still, 
the improvement under good laws and wise administration is 
so marked that we may safely trust to an enlightened public 
sentiment to make the best possible use of the educational fa- 
cilities provided, and to constantly improve and extend those 
facilities until our chiefest boast shall be the Public Schools of 
Paterson. 



APPENDIX 



Paterson Town School Committees — 1831—1850. 

1831— James Richards, John Brown, Henry Whitely. 

1832— John Brown, James Richards, C. Hequemborg. 

1833— John Thompson, James Richards, James Moore. 

1834— John Thompson, William Ridgway, Charles P. Jacobs. 

1835— Blias J. Marsh, John Tilby, Wm. Ridgway. 

1836— Elias J. Marsh, John Tilby, James Bentley, Silas D. Canfleld, Halmoth Van 
Winkle, John Avison, Henry Van Houten, Wm. Ridgway. Amos Munson and 
Stephen Allen had a tie vote. 

1837— Henry Whitely (declined), Andrew Hopper, John P. Brown (declined), Wm. 
Ridgway, Elias J. Marsh, Halmah Van Winkle, John Avison. 

1838— Elias J. Marsh, John Avison, Lemuel Burr, Henry Van Gieson, Andrew Hopper. 

1839— Isaac H. Van Riper, Wm. S. Thompson, Peter O'Blenis, James Panning, Wright 
Plavell. 

1840— Thomas Forbes, Charles English (Inglis), Jr., Wm. Ridgway, Andrew Snyder, 
Josiah W. Shippey, Henry Van Gieson, John Wild. 

1841— Wm. Tfidgway, Charles Inglis, Jr., James Gordon, John J. Brown, Wm. Masters, 
Hiram Hathaway, John P. Brown, Andrew Griffith, Thomas D. Hoxsey. 

1842— Charles English (Inglis), John J. Brown, Hiram Hathaway, Daniel Barkalow, 
Andrew Griffith, Moses E. De Witt, James Shorrock, Henry Van Gieson, Thom- 
as D. Hoxsey. 

1843— John P. Brown, Robert L. Giddons, Philip Rafferty, Robert Cunningham, Fran- 
cis Barber, Thomas Beggs, John S. Fayerweather. 

1844— Henry Van Gieson, James Shorrock, John P. Brown, John S. Fayerweather, 
Samuel S. Townsend, Thomas Adams, Thomas Beggs. 

1845— Jacob Goetschius, John S. Fayerweather, Wm. C. Smith, Albert Westlake. 
Walter E. Stephens, Samuel S. Townsend, Chas. Inglis, Jun. 

1846— Jacob Goetschius, John S. Fayerweather, Wm. C. Smith, Frederick S. Weller, 
Samuel S. Townsend, Charles Inglis, Jun., David Burnett, John Brown, Tohn 
P. Brown. 

1847-Jacob Goetschius, John S. Fayerweather, Charles Inglis, David Burnett, John 
Brown. 

1848— John J. Brown, John S. Fayerweather, Wm. H. Quackenbush, Benjamin Buck- 
ley, Jacob Goetschius, Edwin P. Parke, David Burnett. 
1849— Alfred Stoutenborough, Edwin P. Parke, Abraham C. Van Blarcom, Henry Van 

Gieson, Charles O'Neill, Cornelius Hopper, Chas. Inglis, Jun. 
1850— Edwin P. Parke, Charles O'Neill, Albert A. Hopper, Robert T. Creamer, Andrew 
Derrom, Benjamin Ruckley. 



«8 APPENDIX. 



Paterson City School Committeemen. 

1851— East Ward: Tunis Speer, James M. Smylie; West: John Sanderson, David 
Beam ; South : Edwin P. Parke, Abraham Garrison. 

1852— East Ward : Henry B. Crosby, Tunis I. Speer; West: Hiram Hathaway, John 
Sanderson; South : Charles O'Neill, Abraham Garrison. 

1853— East Ward : Jacob V. R. Van Blareom, Abraham Carter, Jr. ; West : James M. 
Wright, Milton Sears ; South : Cornelius C. Hopper, Francis A. Gallagher. 

1S54— East Ward : Cornelius T. Vandervoort, William Swinburne, Garret A. Hopper;* 
West: Robert Miller, Josiah F. Calvin, William Van Dalsen; South: John 
King, Charles Inglis, Jr., John Hopper; North: Henry Fredericks, Isaac D. 
Blauvelt, Isaac A. Bogert. 

1855— North Ward : Nathaniel Lane, William Rowe, Henry Fredericks ; East : Garret 
A. Hopper, Cornelius T. Vandervoort, Lewis R. Stelle ; West: Josiah F. Cal- 
vin, William Ridgway (declined, and Henry Hathaway was appointed), 
Adolphus Matthias ; South : George Townley, Tunis Stagg, Peter Bell (died in 
June, 1855) ; Fifth : Cornelius S. Van Wagoner, George Vandenhoff, Benjamin 
Crane. 

School Commissioners. 

1856— North Ward : Nathaniel Lane, Lewis L. Conklin, John Graham; East: Lewis 
R. Stelle, James Stiles, Sherman Jaqua; West: Hiram Hathaway, Adolph 
Matthias, William Allison; South: Henry Hagedorn, John Warren, B. Mur- 
ray ; Fifth: Cornelius S. Van Wagoner, Frederick Weller, John Agnew. 

1857— North Ward : Nathaniel Lane, Peter D. Hopper, Cornelius C. Blauvelt ; East : 
Wm. Hulme (resigned in June, and Garret I. Blauvelt elected), James Stiles, 
Edward Clark (declined and Samuel A. Van Saun elected, who removed from 
the Ward in January, 1858, and was succeeded by John C. Bensen) ; West: 
Adolphus Matthias, Geo. Swift, Hiram Hathaway ; South : Henry Hagadorn, 
John Beyea, Hugh Manish ; Fifth :gCornelius S. Van Wagoner, Ezra Osbbrn, 
Benjamin Buckley (resigned in January, 1858, having to attend the Legislat- 
ure, of which he was a member; Samuel A. Van Saun was appointed to fill 
the vacancy). 

1858— North Ward : Nathaniel Lane, A. N. Ackerman, Isaac D. Blauvelt; East: So- 
crates Tuttle, Albert A. Hopper, Victor Aldridge ; West : Andrew Derrom, 
James Watson, George Swift; South: Robert Smith, Titus Ward, Patrick 
Curran ; Fifth : William S. Hudson, Ezra Osborn, Robert S. Hughes. 

1859— North Ward : Isaac D. Blauvelt, John Reynolds, Charles R. Hopson ; East : 
John E. Van Winkle, Garret I. Blauvelt, Charles E. Van Beuren (resigned in 
November, and Socrates Tuttle elected) ; West : Robert Hailing, Richard Van 
Iderstiue, William H. Harmon ; South : Michael Morris, John Dougherty (of- 
fice declared vacated, Oct. 6, for non-attendance, and John C. W estervelt 
elected), Samuel Maconachy; Fifth: Ezra Osborn, Peter Green, George Por- 
ritt (office declared vacated, Oct. 6, for non-attendance and John Hopper 
elected). 

I860— North Ward: Robert James Fields, Ezra S. McClellan ; East : Horace O. Hedge, 
Josiah P. Huntoon; West: Hamilton Arnot, Robert Dalliug ; South: John 
Keys (seat vacated November, 1S61, for non-attendance and John C. Wester- 

* For many years past, a private school teacher. 



APPENDIX. 69 



velt appointed), Van Riper ; Fifth : Henry L. Butler, Abram Garrison.* 

1861— North Ward, Ezra S. McClellan (resigned in May, 1862, and Ralph Spear ap- 
pointed) ; East, Josiah P. Huntoon ; West, John P. Zeluff ; South, George 
Springsteen ; Fifth, Abram Garrison (resigned December, 1862, and John I. 
Goetschius appointed). 

1862— North Ward, Robert J. Fields ; East, Horace O. Hedge ; West, Hamilton Arnot 
(died November, 1862, and John R. Daggers appointed) ; South, John C. Wes- 
tervelt ; Fifth, John Hopper. President— Josiah P. Huntoon. 

1863— North Ward, Ralph Spear; East, Ezra Osborn ; West, John P. Zeluff; South, 
Michael J. carmody (resigned and Patrick Mclnerney elected) ; Fifth, Henry 
L. Butler. President— Tohn C. Westervelt. 

1864— North Ward, Charles P. Gurnee; East, John Cooke ; West, John Murphy ; South, 
Henry McClory (April 18th, 1864, McClory and Mclnerney resigned and Alex- 
ander Hill and Michael A. Harrold appointed); Fifth, John Hopper. Presi- 
dent—John Cooke. 

1865— North Ward, Charles Sandford ; East, Henry L. Butler; West, Alexander Rae ; 
South, Samuel McCunachy, Peter V. A. Westervelt ; Fifth, W Illiam S. Hudson. 
President — John Cooke. 

1866— North Ward, Alfred Dillistin ; East, John Swinburne ; West, John Murphy ; 
South, Frederick Spindler (elected to fill a vacancy), John Dougherty ; Fifth, 
James M. Smylie. President— Wm. S. Hudson. 

186T— North W T ard, Heber Wells ; East, Henry L. Butler ; West, Alexander Rae ; 
South, Elias A. Vreeland ; Fifth, Charles Inglis, Jr. President— Henry L. 
Butler. 

1868— 1st Ward, Alfred Dillistin; 2d, Richard Van Houten, Wm. Nelson; 3d, John C. 
Paulison ; 4th, James M. Baldwin, Charles Keeler ; 5th, William Cole ; 6th, 
Heury Shurman ; 7th, Jacob H. Quackenbush, Elias A. Vreeland ; Sth, George 
H. Glass, Michael Counell. President — Henry L. Butler. 

1869— 1st Ward, Heber Wells ; 2d William Nelson, Jacob H. Blauvelt (vice Richard 
Van Houten, resigned) ; 3d, Henry L. Butler ; 4th, Charles Keeler ; 5th, Charles 
Ingiis; 6th, Alexander Rae ; 7th, John I. Corcoran; Sth, Thomas Hogg ; 9th, 
George Townley, Frederick Wagner. President — Henry L. Butler. 

1870— 1st Ward, Isaac Van Houten ; 2d, Jacob H. Blauvelt ; 3d, John C. Paulison ; 4th, 
Alfred btoutenbor©ugh, Sr. ; 5th, George Bock ; 6th, Robert Gillmor (removed 
from the Ward, and James Mills elected) ; 7th, John T. Dunn (removed from 
the city before the election of 1871) ; 8th, John Clark ; 9th, George Beider (to 
succeed Frederick Wagner). President— Henry L.Butler. 



Commissioners of Public Instruction. 

1871— 1st W T ard, Andrew H. Van Wagoner; 2d, Ira King; 3d, John A. Van Winkle ; 
4th, George B. Day; 5th, John H. Hopper; 6th, Joseph B. Stewart; 7th, 
George Be.der, long term, and John Clark, short termt (tseider resigned, Feb- 
ruary 29, 1872, and Joseph Mosley was appointed) ; 8th, Thomas Hogg (held 
over, there being no election in the 8th Ward). President— Henry L. Butler. 

*These members drew lots in accordance with the new law, to decide which 
should hold office for one year, and which for two years. Messrs. Fields, Hedge, Ar- 
not, Keys and Butler drew the long term.— The names given for the following years 
are only of the newly-elected members. 

t By the charter of 1871 the 9th Ward was abolished, and the boundaries of the 
Wards so changed that Messrs. Clark and Beider were left in the 7th Ward ; their 
'seats consequently vacated. They were then re-elected from that Ward. 



to APPENDIX. 

1872— 1st Ward, Isaac Van Houten ; 2d, William S. Black ; 3d, John H. Robinson ; 4th, 
James M. Baldwin ; 5th, John T. Probert ; 6th, William F. Bertkau ; 7th, 
John Brannin ; 8th, Isaac D. Rogers (died in office, and James Dunkerley ap- 
pointed, October, 1872), Wm. High, Jr. (to succeed Thomas Hogg)'. President 
—George B. Day. 
8^3— 1st Ward, Albert W. Stagg; 2d, William Reid ; 3d, Aaron Clegg; 4th, Charles 
H. May; tth, William P. Richardson; 6th, Joseph Parker; 7th, Charles Helm- 
rich ; 8th, John Sommer. President— Isaac Van Houten. 

1874— 1st Ward, Isaac Van Houten; 2d, William P. Allee ; 3d, David T. Gillmor, 
Alexander T Groser (elected vice Aaron Clegg, resigned) ; 4th, George L. 
Catlin ; 5th, Marinus Houman ; 6th, Isaac McGee, William P. Bertkau (ap- 
pointed vice Joseph Parker, resigned); 7th, William Pierce; Sth, George 
Yorkston. President— Isaac Van Houten. 

1875— 1st Ward, Andrew H. Demarest ; 2d, Samuel Lair; 3d, Alexander T. Groser ; 
4th, Gilbert G. Cooper ; 5th, James W. Ensign (resigned, and James Johnston 
appointed); 6th, John H. Hogan; 7th, Joseph McCrystal ; Sth, John Hinch- 
liffe, jr. President — George L. Catlin. 

1876 — 1st Ward, James Huyssoon ; 2d, Thomas Longbottom ; 3d, William L. Bamber ; 
4th, Ezra Osborn ; 5th, John McGowan ; 6th, Isaac McGee ; 7th, William 
Pierce ; Sth, Henry T. Bergen. President — Alexander T. Groser. 

1877— 1st Ward, William Shinton ; 2d, Samuel Lair ; 3d, James Mills ; 4th, Charles N. 
Sterrett ; 5th, Robert H. Paxton ; 6th, William Senior ; 7th, Timothy Delaney ; 
8th, Michael Browne. President— William L. Bamber. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Asahel, 30. 

Academy, Manchester, 30, 46, 47 ; Meth- 
odist, 30 ; Paterson, 22, 26, 38, 39, 
40 ; Pompton Union, 31. 

Ackerman, Charity, 11 ; James, 11 ; Wil- 
liam, 46. 

Acquackanonk, 7, 8, 33. 

' part of annexed to Pat- 
erson, 59. 
Church Eecords, 5. 

Allen, Captain Stephen, 21. 

America, Anna, 5, 7. 

Amsterdam, Classis of, 6. 

Andrews, Miss Jennie, 54. 

Annual appropriation for schools, bases 
Of, 57, 60. 

Annual reports, 61. 

Arts in the schools, 64. 



Baldwin, James M., 56, 57, 5S, 61. 

Baptists during the Revolution, 13. 

Barkalow, Daniel, 46. 

Barned, Joseph, 38. 

Bell on School No. 1, 45. 

Bennet, Miss, 25. 

Berdan, John B., 46. 

Berry, Mrs. E., 35 ; John W., 34. 

Bertholf, Abraham, 7 ; Dom. Guiliaem, 

7, S. 
Bertkau, Wm. F., 61. 
Billington, James, 5. 
Blauvelt, Isaac D., 44, 53. 
Bocht, the, 16. 
Board of Education, where meetings of 

were held, 44; relations with 

Board of Aldermen, 52, 53, 55, 59 ; 

seal of, 53. 
Boisson, Mons. F., 3. 
Brands, Alexander M.. 40, 59; David I., 

40 ; Orestes M., 40, 49, 55 ; Samuel 

B., 3S, 40, 46, 49, 55. 
Rrannin. John, 61. 
Briggs, Mr., 30, 31 ; Thomas, 38. 
Broadway bridge, 14. 
Brown, John, 36 ; Simeon, 34. 
Buffuni, Sampson W., 39, 40. 
Bumstead, Miss, 23 
Butler, Henry L., 57, 58. 

C 

Canfleld, Silas D., 36, 

Carpenter, , 14. 

Catlin, Jacob, 22 ; Mrs. E., 35. 
Census in 1854 and 1865, 55. 
Centreville, 8. 
Childs, Mr., 34. 
' City schools, 42. 



Clark, John, 61. 

Clegg, Aaron, 61. 

Clifton, 11. 

Clinton street school, 46, 4S, 50. 

Collet, Mark W., 32 ; Mrs. S., 35. 

Collins, Mr., 2S. 

Collis (Collins ?), Miss, 25. 

Colored school. 48, 50, 51. 

Colt, Miss Catharine, 35 ; Peter, 15, 26 ; 
Xoswell L., 26 ; Samuel, 26 ; Miss 
Sarah, 15, 35. 

Colt house, the, 18, 19, 25. 

Committees on erection, repairs a nd fur- 
niture, 1S70-75, 61. 

Compulsory education, 64. 

Condit, Isaac B., 60. 

Conover, Mrs., 25. 

Contrast, 1S65-76, 62. 

Cooper, Gilbert G., 61. 

Corcoran, John I., 58. 

Cornelissen, Jan, 6. 

Cox, Miss Elizabeth, 48, 49. 

Creamer, the Rev. John, 28. 

Croes, the Rev. John, jr., 24, 33, 34. 

Crooks, James, 55. 

Cross street M. E. church, 37, 39, 40. 

culture, genuine, 64. 

D 

Dalling, Robert, 53. 

Davis, Mr. and Mrs., 22 ; William S., 27. 

Decker, Alfred H., 49. 

DeHart, Robert, 49, 50. 

Delinquent class and school, 44. 

Derrick, E. J. M., 5S, 59. 

Derrom, Andrew, 41, 44, 47, 50. 

Designing for the industrial arts, 64. 

DeWitt, Moses E , 23, 2S. 

Dickerson, Judge, 18. 

Dockson, Adam, 38. 

Donkersley, Miss Charlotte, 48, 50. 

Doors of schools to open outward, 54. 

Dougherty, Hugh, 22. 

Drawing in the schools, 54. 

Dunn, John T., 61. 

E 

Ellis, Edward S-, 49. 

Ellison, Dr. William, 26, 38. 

Elm street Infant school, 34. 

Ennis, J., 62. 

Erasmus, Desiderius, saying of, 64. 

F 

Fairchild, Phoebe, 21, 22. 
Field, the Rev. lacob T., 30. 
First free schools, Si. 

preaching in Engl'h in Paterson, IS 



VI 



INDEX. 



First school in the town of Paterson, 15, 
16. 

schoolmaster in Passaic county, 7. 

Sunday school in Paterson, 15. 

permanent do., 29. 
Fisher, Mrs., 35 ; the Rev. James C, 22, 

23; the Rev. Dr. Samuel, 22, 23, 

33, 34. 
Fitzpatrick, Martin, 60. 
Flood, John K., 36. 
Ford, Miss, 48, 49. 
Free Church, the, 40. 
Freeman, A. H., 30 ; Uzal W., 22, 29, 30. 
Froeligh, the Rev. Solomon, 33. 



G 



Garrison, Cornelius G., 46. 

Geroe, Miss E. R., 48. 

Gibson, the Rev. William J., 28, 33, 34. 

Gillmor, David T., 61. 

Gledhlll, William, 28. 

Godwin, Abraham, jr., 33 ; Abraham H., 
21 ; Caleb Muuson, 33 ; Miss Eve- 
line, 35 ; Miss M , 35. 

Godwin's (Henry) store, 20. 

Godwin's tavern, 17. 

Goetschius, Jacob, 13, 22, 23. 

Goetschius's schoolhouse, 24, 34, 43, 51. 

Gould, Thomas, 13. 

Graham, Samuel, 47. 

Griswold, Edwin E., 30. 



Hackensack, 7. 

Halsted, Miss Eliza M., 48, 50, 51. 

Hamilton, Isaac, 40 ; Mrs., 24 ; William 

B., 23. 
Harrison, Mr., 31 ; C. M., 49. 
Hartley, Mr., 24. 
Hatrick, Charles, 60. 
Haywood, Mrs., 22. 
Helme, Benjamin, 29. 
Henderson, Joseph, 11, 12, 19. 
Henry, David, 60. 
Heyman, Daniel, 31. 
High School, 50, 55. 
Hinchliffe, John, jr., 61. 
Hogg, Thomas, 61. 
Holidays, 44. 
Hopper, John, 45, 57. 
Hosford, Samuel C, 43, 48, 49, 50, 52, 56, 

59. 
Houman, Marinus, 61. 
House, John W., 20. 
Hurlbut, Charles O., 48. 



Industrial arts in the schools, 64. 

Infant School Society, 35. 

Inglis, Justice Charles, 38 ; Dr. Charles, 

38, 44, 45, 55, 58, 61. 
Inslee, Mrs. Catharine, 35. 
Irish, Hugh C, 46 ; Jonathan, 46. 



James, Mrs. Joseph F., 22. 
•lanitors, how appointed, 54. 
Jefferson Institute, the, 31. 
Jenner, William, 11. 



K 

Keeler, Charles, 58, 61. 

Keily, JotinD., 3^. 

Kennadav, the Rev. John, 33. 

King, E. B., 17 ; Ira, 61 ; James W., 26 ; 

Robert, 25. 
Kinsey, Charles, 13, 26; Charles Smith, 35 
Kip, Nicholas, 41. 



Laird, John, 56. 
Lake View school, 60. 
Lane, Nathaniel, 29. 
Larena, John J., 31. 
Larned, v r„ 24. 
Lewis, the Rev. Daniel, 33, 34. 
Lyceum, the Paterson, 42. 
Lyon, " Dominie " Bradford W., 21, 22, 
27, 28. 

M 

Maconachy, S., 53. 

Manchester Academy, 30, 46, 47 ; Lite- 
rary Association, 46 ; schools, 46. 

Market, the New, 40. 

Market street bridge, 10. 

Masonic Hall, 18. 

May, Charles H., 61. 

McClellan, Dr. Ezra S., 51, 52. 

McGrorty, -lames, 22. 

Mclntyre, Andrew, 56, 59. 

McKee, Mr., 6>. 

Mead's Basin, 7. 

Mechanics' Institute, 32, 36. 

Merrill, Samuel C.,42,43 ; Sherburne R., 
40, 41, 42, 43, 45. 

Methodist Academy, 30. 

Miller, Ezekiel, 33, 34 ; Robert, 44. 

Model Training school, 51. 

Mosher, I., 22. 

Mountain View, 7. 

Museum hotel, 14. 

Myers, C. M., 49, 50. 

Nelson, Wm., 55, 57, 58. 
New Amsterdam, 6. 
New Netherland, 5. 
IS ew York city, 6. 
Normal school, 44, 49, 55. 

O 

Object teaching, 51. 

O'Donoghue, the Rev. Francis, 33, 34. 

Ogden, Mrs. E. B. D., 35. 

Oldham Machine Works, 38. 

'Old Hotel," 17. 

Osborn, Ezra, 53 ; Miss, 49. 



Paine, Thomas, 13. 

Parke, John, 26. 

Parsons, Miss, 51. 

Passaic Falls Classical Institute, 62. 

Passaic Hotel, 20. 

Past, present and future of Paterson 

public schools, 62. 
Paterson Seminary, 62. 
Paterson Union Sabbath School Society, 

15. 



INDEX 



73 



Permanent improvements, cost of, 1854- 

1851, 48; 1869-T1, 60. 
Perry, Joseph, 39 ; Miss Sarah J., 59. 
Phillips, the Kev. John, 17, 25. 
"Philosophical Society", the, 31. 
Pompton, 7 ; Union Academy, 31. 
Post, John P. & Sons, 58. 59. 
Preakuess, 11. 
Private Seminaries, 62. 
Probert, ohn T., 61. 

Q 

"Q.uality School," 62. 
K 

Rae, Alexander, 61. 
Rathburn, Miss Susan H., 54. 
Ray, M iss Isabella, 85. 
Redman, Miss Rachel, 35, 36. 
Reid, David, 34 ; William, 61. 
Rensselaerswyek, 6. 
Reorganization of school system, 55. 
Rice, Samuel W., 56. 
Richards, the Rev. .lames, 36. 
Ridenour, William B , 56. 
Riverside, 16. 
Roberts, William L., 22. 
Robinson, John H., 61. 
Roelandsen, Adam, 6. 
Rogers, Dr. A. W., 42. 
Rogers, William J., 3, 41, 56, 59. 
Roman Catholic parochial schools, 62. 
Royle, Vernon, 58. 
Ryerson, the Rev. A. G., 60. 



S 



Saddle River township records, 17. 

"Sandy Hill" school, 54. 

Schaets, the Rev. Gideon, 6. 

School No. 1, 44, 45, 48, 51, 56, 62 ; No. 2, 
45, 48, 59 ; No. 3, 46, i% 49 ; No. 4, 
47, 49, 59 ; No. 5, 55, 59 ; No. 6, 54, 
5S, 61 ; No. 7, 57, 60 ; No. 8, 59 ; No. 
9, 60; No. 10, 57, 60. 

Schools, laws relating to the public, 7, 
32, 36, 37, 43, 45, 47, 48, 52, 53, 57, 
59. 

Seal of the Board of Education, 53. 

Searle, Zetus, 23, 30. 

Second German Presbyterian Church, 
24, 34, 38. 

Second Presbyterian Church, 51. 

"Sentinel," Newark, quotations from, 
12, 19. 

Serven, Isaac, 24. 

Sherburne, Joseph, 16. 19. 

Sheridan, Bernard N., 12. 

Sheys, Bryant, 13, 16 ; Harriet, 13 ; James 
B., 13. 

Shurman, Henry, 5S. 

Singack, 7. 

Smith, , 16. 

Society for Establishing Useful Manu- 
factures, 14, 15, 16, 18, 26, 27, 29, 35. 

Sommer, John, 61. 

Speer, Mrs. Elizabeth, 35; John R.. 33, 34 

" Staggtown " school, 47, 48. 

Statistics of ten years' progress, 61. 

Stevenson, David, 19 ; Eugene, 62 ; the 
Rev. P. E., 62. 

Stewart, Joseph B., 61. 

Stiles, James, 41, 45. 



Stitt, Miss Eliza, 4S ; Miss Mary, 48, 50 

63. 
St. John's Hall, 31. 
St. Paul's Episcopal church, 29. 
Stockton, Richard, IS. 
Stony Road school, 56, 60 
Stoutenborough, Alfred, 61. 
Strong, John, 34. 
Stuyvesant, Peter, 6. 
Superintendents of buildings, 61 ; of 

schools, 36, 52, 56, 58. 
System of schools established, 48. 
Sythoff, Dr. Lambert, v3, 27 ; Mrs. P., 35. 
Swinburne, William, 52, 55, 57, 5S, 61. 

T 

Tallman, George G, jr., 62; Mrs., 63; 
Seminary, 63. 

Tanner, Miss, 48. 

Taylor, the Rev. Benjamin G, 33, 34. 

Teachers' Association, State, meeting 
of in Paterson, 54. 

Teachers, mode of appointing. 53 ; sal- 
aries of, 53, 55, 62 ; of music, 54 ; 
of writing, 54. 

Temple street school, 47, 59. 

Thompson, , 20. 

Thorp, Samuel, 53. 

Titus, William, 47. 

Todd, Richard, 20. 

Totowa, 16 ; burying ground, 17 ; dis- 
trict school, 20 ; public school, 55, 
59. 

Townley, George, 61. 

Township schools, Pater. on, 38. 

Turtle, Miss C. G., 46, 48. 



U 



Upson, Charles, 20. 
Urich, Charles, 60. 



Van Beuren, C. E., 53. 

Vandervoort, Cornelius T., 44. 

Van Driessen, Dominie, 5. 

Van Houten, Abraham, 26; Adrian, 34; 
Isaac, 61 ; Miss Jane, 35 ; John R., 
21; 

Van Ness, Evert II., 33, 34. 

Van Quenaudon, Mrs., 50. 

Van Riper, Cornelius G., 33, 34. 

Van Wagoner, Andrew H., 61; Cornel- 
ius S., 52. 53. 

Van Winkle, A , 22 ; Mrs., 22. 

Vaughan, the Rev. Edward, 5. 

Vreeland, Elias A., 57. 

W 

Wagaraw, 16. 

Wallace, Miss M., 35 ; Miss R , 35. 

Walmsley, Miss, 22. 

Ware, Mr., 27. 

V» arren, Dr. James, 32. 

War-times, a reminder of, 54. 

Waters, Henry, 62. 

Weavertown school, 57. 

Weller's tavern, 17. 

Wells, Heber, 58, 61. 

Wesel neighborhood, 9; school, 9, 10, 11, 

12, 13, 14. 
Wesleyan chapel, 46. 



74 



INDEX. 



Westervelt, the Rev. Wm. E., 43. 

West India Company, 6 

White, Henry, 28 

Whitely, Henry, 36. 

Wiggins, the Kev. Mr , 34. 

Wilde, Mrs. A. L., 22, 23, 25. 

Williams, Enoch, 22 ; L D , 40. 

Willis, Abraham, 19, 35. 

Wills, Thomas, 16, 19, 21 ; Thomas, ir„ 

17. 
Wilmarth, Otis, 21, 22. 



Woodward, John, 21. 

Wright, Miss Fannv, 31 ; John, 15. 

W T ylie, Miss Mary, 39, 46, 4S. 



Young, Miss Lizzie D., 60. 
Youngblood, Peter A., 49, £8. 



Zieken-trooster, 6, 



CH^=55^. 



